Top Stories

SYDNEY, July 5: Southern Star International has secured new deals in France with AB Droits on Meerkat Manor and Forensic Investigators. AB Droits acquired seasons one and two of Meerkat Manor, an Oxford Scientific Films production for Animal Planet; and …

MADRID, July 5: ESPN Classic has reached a carriage deal with Telefónica’s Spanish IPTV platform Imagenio, reaching more than 250,000 subscribers. Imagenio offers 66 different TV channels, 15 radio stations, a pay per view football channel and interactive information and …

COPENHAGEN, July 5: Zodiak Television World has notched up new format deals in Eastern Europe, including the sale of Stars on Stage to Ukraine’s Inter-TV. Devised at MTV Mastiff Sweden, the prime-time entertainment series is slated for a 12-episode run …

LONDON, July 5: John Willis is stepping down as the director of factual and learning at the BBC after a three-year stint with the public broadcaster. Willis’s tenure saw the BBC release titles such as Planet Earth and The Secret …

LONDON, July 5: LIVINGtv’s commissioning editor Steve Regan has been named head of factual entertainment and entertainment at Target Entertainment. Regan joins Target in the middle of this month and is charged with managing the company’s production activities in the …

MEXICO CITY, July 5: Mexico’s Grupo Televisa is prepared to offload its 11.4-percent stake in Hispanic broadcaster Univision Communications as it looks to explore other opportunities in the U.S. market. The Mexican media giant last week failed in its bid …

LOS ANGELES, July 5: Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has asked The Walt Disney Company not to pay him the $65,000 annual salary he is entitled to as a member of the company’s board of directors. As a result, Disney has …

SYDNEY, July 5: Australian Prime Minister John Howard is calling on Network Ten to cancel its edition of Big Brother, after a participant on the show alleged that two male contestants sexually assaulted her. TEN did not broadcast footage of …

STOCKHOLM, July 5: Modern Times Group has acquired the Slovenian free-TV broadcaster PRVA TV for 8.1 million euros. PRVA is the third-largest private commercial free-to-air TV broadcaster in Slovenia. Rebranded in June of last year, the channel reported revenues of …

MUNICH, June 30: Discovery Communications will be launching DMAX in September 2006 in place of XXP, a free-to-air channel the company acquired earlier this year. DMAX, a fact-based entertainment channel, will focus on the lifestyles and interests of male viewers …