Top Stories

VANCOUVER, August 30: After acquiring IDT Entertainment’s 62-percent stake in Mainframe Entertainment last month, Canada’s Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects has reached a deal to acquire the remaining 38 percent interest in the CGI animation outfit. RNK Capital Limited Partnership, …

ALVISO, August 30: TiVo, which launched its audience research division last month, has expanded its relationship with the Omnicom Media Group. Omnicom’s OMD and PHD divisions will acquire TiVo’s second-by-second advertising and audience measurement research. Moving forward, Omnicom Media Group …

STOCKHOLM, August 30: The Modern Times Group has completed its acquisition of PRVA TV in Slovenia, after receiving clearance from the country’s Ministry of Culture. PRVA TV is the third-largest privately owned free-to-air television channel in Slovenia. MTG announced the …

LONDON, August 30: British independent Zenith Entertainment has gone into administrative receivership, the Guardian reported today, with PricewaterhouseCoopers seeking a buyer for the company’s assets. Zenith’s Blaze Television division, whose credits include CD:UK, has reportedly already been sold to Shout! …

LONDON, August 30: STR Productions in Turkey is the latest outfit to come on board for Funky Formats’ interactive drama format Telenovela Star, marking the 40th deal on the title, with negotiations currently underway for English- and Spanish-language versions in …

KUALA LUMPUR, August 30: Sony Pictures Television International’s Animax channel launches as a full 24/7 service in Malaysia tomorrow on pay-TV platform Astro, reaching more than 1.9 million subscribers. As part of the channel’s expansion plans in Asia, Animax will …

LONDON, August 30: DangerMouse, celebrating its 25th anniversary next month, is returning to terrestrial screens in the U.K. following the BBC’s acquisition of the classic animation from Fremantle International Distribution. BBC has acquired for broadcast on BBC Daytime 18 25-minute …

LONDON, August 30: BBC Worldwide Americas has sold a range of high-definition titles to TV Azteca in Mexico and the pan-regional Latin American network People & Arts. TV Azteca took 17 titles, for a total of 30-plus hours that will …

NEW YORK, August 30: MTV Networks’ male-targeted channel Spike TV is launching a broadband player at spiketv.com featuring a slate of original content. Among the titles launching on the service are Rattlesnake Raceway, Enduro at Erzberg and Geek-Ray-Vision. Upcoming online …

SINGAPORE, August 30: Playhouse Disney has achieved full distribution in Indonesia, securing carriage on the DTH platform Indovision as of this month. Indovision, which expects to have 200,000 subscribers by the end of this month, already carries the flagship Disney …