Top Stories

HONG KONG, September 14: David Butorac, currently the group COO of Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Networks, has been tapped to fill the newly created position of president of platforms at STAR. Reporting to CEO Michelle Guthrie, Butorac will be responsible …

STOCKHOLM, September 13: ATM Grupa, the Polish production outfit that is a member of the Sparks Network, has licensed its Clueless format to Mega Channel in Greece. The Greek broadcaster launches the show this month, with an option to do …

TORONTO, September 13: Portfolio Entertainment’s tween-targeted animated series Carl2 has been picked up by Nickelodeon Germany and Jetix Netherlands. The series launched in Canada last fall on TELETOON. Portfolio has 52 episodes to offer broadcasters, as well as an interactive …

LONDON, September 13: MTV Networks International (MTVNI) has named Kevin Razvi as executive VP and managing director of Viacom Brand Solutions (VBS), a position created to allow the company to better serve its advertising clients over TV and new media …

BURBANK, September 13: DIC Entertainment has made several new appointments and promotions in its consumer products team, headed up by Cynthia Modders as senior VP of worldwide consumer products at the company. David DiLorenzo joins as VP of retail development. …

NEW YORK, September 13: NBC Universal and its broadcast affiliates are launching nbbc (National Broadband Company), a platform that will aggregate and distribute both its own content as well as third-party titles to NBC Universal’s online assets as well as …

HONG KONG, September 13: PCCW’s IPTV platform now TV will have the exclusive Hong Kong carriage rights for Playboy TV for a three-year period, beginning in December. As of December 1, Playboy TV will come off other pay TV platforms …

LONDON, September 13: SCI FI Channel in the U.K. has picked up the rights to NBC’s new fall season drama Heroes, as well as SCI FI U.S.’s Stan Lee reality series Who Wants to be a Superhero? for launch early …

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG/TAIPEI, September 13: Nickelodeon Networks Asia and Eastern Broadcasting Co.’s Eastern Television (ETTV) have joined forces to launch YoYo Nick, a three-hour Mandarin-language programming block for kids in Taiwan. The Nickelodeon-branded block, launching September 18, will feature Mandarin-language versions …

PHILADELPHIA/ENGLEWOOD, September 13: Beginning September 15, Comcast will offer 100 hours of high-definition video-on-demand programs on its ON DEMAND service, including at least 20 HD movies from Starz Entertainment each month. The initiative kicks off with Disney’s The Chronicles of …