Top Stories

DURHAM, February 27: Motricity, a provider of mobile content services, today announced the completion of $50 million in equity funding from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Motricity also announced the appointment of Brett Icahn, an investment analyst with Icahn Associates and …

LONDON, February 27: A poll commissioned by the British independent producers association Pact has shown that parents in the U.K. place a high value on locally produced content for their kids. The poll, conducted by YouGov, sampled 2,551 adults across …

NEW YORK, February 27: Viacom’s Comedy Central network will launch Web Shows, a new on-air half-hour late-night series featuring original broadband programming from its website and from AtomFilms, on March 5 at 2 a.m. The new series marks the network’s …

LONDON, February 27: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has acquired the rights to two new drama series from Toronto- and Los Angeles-based production outfit Blueprint Entertainment: Love You To Death and The Best Years, both of which will be launched at MIPTV. …

NEW YORK, February 27: NBC Universal’s SCI FI Channel has teamed up with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Comics for a new multimedia venture called SCI FI/Virgin Comics, which will kick off with five new comic book titles. The first five …

LONDON: February 27: All3Media International has licensed its acclaimed mini-series Elizabeth I, featuring recent Academy-Award winner Helen Mirren, for broadcast into a range of new territories, including Spain with free-TV station Cuatro. Additional deals for the series have also been …

BRIGHTON, February 27: BBC Worldwide announced two deals on key kids’ properties at its BBC Showcase event in Brighton today: TVNZ’s acquisition of In the Night Garden and Discovery Kids en Español’s pickup of Fimbles. In the Night Garden is …

VIENNA, February 27: The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) has licensed its thriller/mystery series 8×45 to NBC Universal’s European channel 13th Street for Austria, Switzerland and Germany. The series is a collection of 45-minute stories, including Braking Ice, about a woman …

BARCELONA, February 27: Spain’s Icon Animation has secured a number of sales with local broadcasters in the region for its third-party kids’ programming, including titles such as the Clifford The Big Red Dog, The Smurfs and Dora the Explorer. TV3, …

LONDON, February 27: UKTV shareholders BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media Television have appointed David Abraham, most recently the head of TLC in the U.S., as CEO of UKTV, effective in mid-April and reporting to the UKTV Board. In his new …