Top Stories

LONDON, January 31: BBC Worldwide has agreed to take a 25 percent equity investment in the Freehand Group, an Australian independent production company, as part of its strategy to boost its content creation capabilities globally. Under the terms of the …

SAN JOSE, January 31: The NFL will make video highlights of the Super Bowl available the day after the event for download through Apple’s iTunes Store for $1.99 each. According to the Associated Press, the downloads will be available in …

MIAMI, January 31: Zeal Television and Animus Entertainment Group have inked a deal for Concierto Clandestino, two two-hour reality-based music specials for Telemundo. Concierto Clandestino, currently in production at Zeal’s Miami office, follows the trials and tribulations of young promoters …

PARIS, January 31: Dargaud Distribution has relaunched as Mediatoon International Distribution, representing the Dargaud Marina, Ellipsanime, Dupuis and Storimages catalogues. Mediatoon International Distribution is a division of Mediatoon, the new outfit set up by the Media Participations group to oversee …

LONDON, January 31: Arts Alliance Media (AAM) has acquired the digital distribution rights for Artificial Eye’s films, with plans to make the titles available in the U.K. and Ireland for download-to-rent and download-to-own through its online distribution channels. Under the …

HARRINGTON PARK, January 31: Janson Media is rolling out Chronos, the first non-verbal, non-fiction motion picture shot entirely in time-lapse photography, to the international DVD market, making the special available on both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. Chronos is presented …

TORONTO/LONDON, January 31: DECODE Entertainment has secured Penguin Group (USA) and Simon & Schuster as the North American publishing partners for the preschool series Franny’s Feet, airing in the U.S. on PBS. Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Young …

NEW YORK, January 31: Profits at Time Warner rose by 35 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.75 billion, while full-year net income more than doubled to $6.55 billion. “I’m delighted that 2006 proved to be a good year for …

LOS ANGELES, January 31: The Africa Channel has promoted Shirley Neal to the newly created position of executive VP of programming and production. Neal, who has been VP of production and development at the channel since June 2005, will begin …

PARIS, January 31: Vivendi Universal’s 2006 revenues rose 2.9 percent to 20.04 billion euros, while fourth quarter revenues were up 1.2 percent to 5.55 billion euros. Canal+ Group’s 2006 revenues amounted to 3.63 billion euros, a 7.7 percent gain. Revenues …