Top Stories

BURBANK, October 6: Heroes has become the first freshman show to receive a full-season order, having emerged as the top new show this fall in adults 18 to 49, a position in which it is tied with ABC’s Brothers & …

STUDIO CITY, October 6: Crown Media Holdings, which operates the Hallmark Channel in the U.S., has reached a deal to sell the U.S. rights to its film library to RHI Entertainment (formerly Hallmark Entertainment) for $160 million. The agreement includes …

TOKYO/UNIVERSAL CITY, October 6: Jupiter VOD and NBC Universal International Television Distribution have entered into a multi-year licensing agreement for the video-on-demand rights in Japan to current, library and upcoming NBC Universal feature films. Key titles included in the deal …

SANTA MONICA/VANCOUVER, October 6: Lionsgate has sent another letter to other Image Entertainment stockholders urging them to focus on the "central issues" of the current proxy challenge and to elect the six independent candidates nominated by Lionsgate to replace Image's …

BOSTON, October 6: WGBH International and CS Associates are combining under the banner of WGBH International, creating an entity with more than 250 hours of documentary programming. The merged entity will be present at MIPCOM with titles such as the …

HILVERSUM, October 6: Brazil’s TV Globo has come on board for two Endemol formats: Strictly Dancing and the new title Circus of the Celebrities. A first season of Circus Of The Celebrities is set to launch in early 2007 along …

TORONTO, October 6: CCI Entertainment and Ambience Entertainment have greenlit production on a new season of 26 episodes of the Canadian/Australian production Erky Perky. A top-rated show on YTV, the animated series about two bickering bugs forced to survive in …

HONG KONG, October 5: Celestial Pictures’ Shaw Brothers titles will be available on free-to-air Australian TV for the first time, via a deal with Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS has licensed the free-TV rights to a package of martial arts …

LONDON, October 5: Comedy, factual, reality and light entertainment programming all feature prominently on Fremantle International Distribution’s large slate of offerings for MIPCOM. On the comedy front, a new offering is All Aussie Adventures, in which Australian comedian Glenn Robbins …

MONTREAL, October 5: In addition to its ready-to-air programming such as Hollywood Connection, Distraction will be showcasing a varied selection of reality and game show formats at MIPCOM next week. The Big Experiment, originally produced by Rouge Productions for TVNZ, …