World Screen

CANNES: House Husbands, a family drama series about a group of stay-at-home fathers, is among the shows that ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) is showcasing. “With their fabulously flawed wives and partners, the House Husbands navigate their way through the craziness of modern parenting, relationships, friendships and careers… and try to get …

LONDON: Channel 4 has ordered a second run of Derek, a comedy from Ricky Gervais that has been re-commissioned for six half-hour episodes. The first four episodes of the show’s first season attracted a consolidated series average of 2.1 million views, a 9.9-percent share. The final episode will air on …

LONDON: Universal Networks International has placed The Style Network with the Virgin Media platform, where it will launch on March 6. The channel will feature an updated brand and image, with a new on-air look, logo and tagline in the U.K. and around the world. This follows on the North …

PREMIUM: Sophie Turner Laing, the managing director of content at BSkyB, has initiated a significant investment in original content, which, as she tells World Screen Newsflash, has not only yielded several hit shows, with more to come, but is also boosting Sky’s international distribution. TV EUROPE: Sky has been investing heavily …

MECHELEN: Duco Sickinghe has decided to resign as CEO and managing director of Telenet. Sickinghe will be replaced by John Porter, who was the chief executive of Austar Communications until May 2012. Of his resignation, Sickinghe said: "I love my job and enjoy working at Telenet. I am extremely proud …

MUNICH: Tele München Group (TMG) has purchased the rights for Gold Circle’s Search Party, a comedy, from Good Universe. The deal includes the German and Austrian rights, as well as the television rights for the remainder of German-speaking Europe. The movie is written by Mike Gagerman, Andrew Waller (American Pie …

PARIS: MIPCube will again take place during MIPTV this year, with a lineup of events and conferences that includes speakers from Twitter, Warner Bros. and Machinima. As part of a series of case studies, Dan Biddle, the head of broadcast partnerships at Twitter UK, will look at how the micro-blogging …

LONDON: Mike Morris, who previously served as the managing director of Channel 4’s commercial arm, has launched his own consultancy and IP development outfit, Cue Card Media. Cue Card received financial backing from Paul Higgins and Will Clarke, the founders of Optimum Releasing. The venture will provide consultancy to rights owners, …

PARIS: Laurine Garaude previews some of the highlights of MIPTV 2013, which runs from April 8 to 11. MIPTV celebrates a key milestone this year—the market has now been in operation for 50 years. The brainchild of Bernard Chevry, the first MIPTV took place in Lyon in 1963, with just …

LONDON: Extreme Sports Channel has inked an innovative deal to live stream a sporting event through the Xbox 360 game console. The BMX Finals of the 13th annual Simple Sessions BMX and skateboarding contest will be available to stream across EMEA through Xbox LIVE, the channel’s website and session.ee/live. This …