World Screen

HONG KONG: Steve Marcopoto, who has run Turner Broadcasting’s operations in Asia since 1998, is exiting the company once his contract ends in December. Marcopoto, president and managing director of Turner International Asia Pacific, has overseen the company’s growth from a single pan-regional channel to a portfolio of 36 networks …

NEW YORK: NBC News has acquired the user-generated live video service Stringwire, providing it with the means to allow viewers to live stream video content from their phones directly to its control room. As part of the acquisition, Phil Groman, Stringwire’s founder, is joining the NBC News team as product leader. Groman …

NEW YORK: News Corp has secured the exclusive mobile and Internet clip rights for Barclays Premier League and several additional major leagues in Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. Starting later this month, News Corp will have the exclusive English Premier League mobile and Internet rights in Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam for …

LAUSANNE: Dentsu has picked up the Olympic broadcast rights in 17 countries across Asia for the 2014 Games in Russia and the 2016 Games in Brazil, building on a deal secured earlier this month that covered Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The new agreement with the International Olympic Committee …

AUCKLAND: Producers Richard Fletcher and Paul Davis have teamed up with writer Neil Cross, the creator of BBC’s Luther, to launch Libertine Pictures, a new film and TV production company based in New Zealand. Fletcher and Davis are joint managing directors. Cross serves as Libertine’s creative director. Cross’s other writing …

MOSMAN: Free TV Australia has named Harold Mitchell as its new chairman, a role that sees him tackling issues affecting the commercial free-to-air TV industry in the country. Mitchell is the founder of Mitchell & Partners. He was also, until earlier this month, the executive chairman of Aegis Media Asia Pacific. He …

LUXEMBOURG/LOS ANGELES/SINGAPORE: The RTL Group is joining forces with CBS Studios International to launch two channels, one focused on general entertainment, the other featuring reality, action and extreme sports, across Southeast Asia. RTL Group began targeting Asia in 2011, partnering with Reliance Broadcast Network to launch the BIG RTL Thrill network in India in …

HONG KONG: National Geographic Channel Asia is set to premiere I Wouldn’t Go in There, an original pan-regional series produced in Asia for an Asian audience, in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia on August 23. The ten-episode series features blogger and urban explorer Robert Joe as he investigates the true …

ATLANTA: YuppTV, an OTT platform featuring 150-plus Indian TV channels, is launching a movie-on-demand service for South Asians on its platform worldwide. Users can subscribe to a monthly package or watch them on a pay-per-view basis on multiple Internet-connected devices. YuppTV has also launched a special section of "Premiere Movies," where users can …

TOKYO: The Japanese premium pay-TV broadcaster WOWOW has implemented a new organizational structure by splitting its production and programming department into two separate divisions. The production division will be led by Eiji Omura, who will oversee the various production sub-departments categorized into movies, sports, drama and music. The programming unit, which …