Top Stories

TORONTO, June 16: The MuchMusic Video Awards, distributed by CHUM International, will air in a record 65 markets this weekend across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and North America. The MMVAs—which have aired outside of Canada for 12 …

MONTREAL, June 16: Distraction has secured a trio of new deals on the Jonathan Goodson game show Dirty Rotten Cheater, including one with France 2 for its summer schedule. The format was recently renewed by TBS in Japan and has …

BURBANK, June 16: Strawberry Shortcake is making her way into the feature-film world with Sweet Dreams, a full-length animated movie that rolls out this October, in a deal between brand owner American Greetings Corp., licensing agent DIC Entertainment and licensee …

SANTA MONICA, June 16: Lionsgate is developing television projects for the 12-year-old actress/singer Keke Palmer, star of Akeelah and the Bee, and may also cast her in existing productions. Kevin Beggs, the president of television programming and production at Lionsgate, …

LOS ANGELES, June 16: Ahead of Licensing Show, Cookie Jar Entertainment has announced the appointment of Mattel as master toy licensee for the new series Spider Riders, while home video rights have gone to FUNimation Entertainment. The series, which falls …

CHATSWORTH, June 16: Image Entertainment has taken on the exclusive North American home video and digital distribution rights to three films by Hong Kong-based filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang. The deal was concluded by the company’s European subsidiary, Image Entertainment …

TORONTO, June 16: DECODE Entertainment has notched up several new deals on the first and second seasons of its hit live-action tween series Naturally Sadie. Nickelodeon International has taken the second season for its channels in Spain, Italy, Scandinavia and …

SANTA MONICA, June 16: Mobile content provider Viva! Vision has launched five new mobile channels targeted to the Hispanic market, including one exclusively devoted to the World Cup. In addition to the World Cup Soccer channel, featuring some content from …

PORTLAND, June 16: Ex-Paramount International Television chief Gary Marenzi has taken on the position of president at Ensequence, a provider of interactive television software and services that is headquartered in Oregon. The move is part of the company’s attempt to …

NEW YORK, June 16: Venevision Investments, a division of the Cisneros Group of Companies, is joining a consortium of investors seeking to acquire U.S. Hispanic broadcaster Univision, teaming with Grupo Televisa and five investment firms. Venevision and Televisa are already …