Top Stories

BRISTOL, January 18: Aardman Animations’ new kids’ series Shaun the Sheep has notched up deals in 60 markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America since its MIPCOM 2006 launch. TF1 in France has acquired the franchise across all rights including …

LONDON, January 18: Tessa Jowell, the U.K.’s Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, has announced that the BBC’s license fee will increase from £131.50 to £135.50 on April 1, rising gradually every two years to £151.50 in 2012. Mark Thompson, …

NEW YORK, January 18: Four families have filed suit against News Corporation and MySpace alleging that their underage daughters were solicited online and sexually abused by adult users of the popular social networking site. Arnold & Itkin LLP and Barry …

CAMBRIDGE, January 17: The Internet TV company Brightcove has completed its series C financing round, raising $59.5 million from new investors AllianceBernstein, Brookside Capital, Maverick Capital, The New York Times Company and Transcosmos. The funding will be used to drive …

LONDON, January 17: Taichi Fukuda has been appointed to the newly created role of managing director and Japan representative at NBC Universal International, reporting to the recently named president of that business, Peter Smith. Fukuda, based in Tokyo, will lead …

DALLAS, January 17: The Protector, presented by Quentin Tarantino, and Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark’s Seven Swords are exclusively available on DVD from Blockbuster, via the rental company’s alliance with The Weinstein Company. These are the first films to be …

MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM, January 17: Zodiak Television is continuing its Russian and CIS expansion with the launch of Zodiak Vostok to handle production, business development and sales in the region. Zodiak Vostok will be led by MD Patrick Nebout, the former head …

MONTREAL, January 17: Distraction is exploiting its growing Funny Home Video Library with more episodes of Comedy of Errors, which is being showcased at NATPE with a new collection called Distraction Gags. Distraction Gags is a new hidden-camera collection suitable …

BCI, FremantleMedia Sign Exclusive DVD Publishing Agreement LOS ANGELES, January 17: BCI has licensed the long-term North American DVD publishing and distribution rights to programming from FremantleMedia, including The Price is Right, Family Feud, the British sitcom The IT Crowd …

NEW YORK, January 17: Sundance Channel has given the go-ahead to a third season of its original series Iconoclasts, which is slated to launch in October. Iconoclasts puts a twist on the standard celebrity interview program by pairing two leading …