World Screen

LONDON: Rachel Ashdown, a former head of entertainment at ITV Studios in Manchester, has been tapped for the role of commissioning editor for entertainment at the BBC. Ashdown's previous credits include executive producing the Whizz Kid Entertainment/ASG Production Titanic: A Commemoration In Music And Film (BBC), Wall Of Fame (Sky1) …

LONDON: FremantleMedia's Dominic Burns has been named senior VP of brand management and commercial for NBCUniversal (NBCU) International Television Production, effective in March. Burns will be expected to develop brand extension and commercial partnerships to increase value across NBCU International Television Production's expanding global TV brands. He will also contribute to …

LONDON: Power has sold a number of mini-series and TV movies to Polskie Media for broadcast in Poland in 2015. One of the mini-series that has been licensed is Air Force One is Down, which stars Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory), Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2), Rupert Graves (Sherlock), Jamie Thomas King (Tinker …

EL SEGUNDO: IHS is forecasting that the worldwide consumer electronics (CE) market will contract this year, as it waits for new innovative products, such as ultra-high-definition TVs, to catch on. IHS predicts that worldwide CE manufacturing revenue will fall to $250 billion in 2014, down 2 percent from 2013's $255.7 …

COLOGNE: Brainpool is bringing its cult comedy hit Stromberg to the big screen, after raising 1 million euros in fan funding for the financing of the film. Stromberg has aired for five seasons on ProSieben. It will now get a film adaptation, Stromberg: The Film, which will hit theaters on …

LONDON: Steve Macallister, formerly the president and managing director of BBC Worldwide's sales and distribution division, is taking on the role of CEO of Zodiak Rights, succeeding Matthew Frank, who is stepping down after 20 years. Macallister takes on the role as of January 13. He joins from BBC Worldwide, …

BRUSSELS: The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation to look at the provisions in the licensing agreements between a number of U.S. studios and European pay-TV broadcasters. The broadcasters involved in the probe are BSkyB in the U.K., Sky Italia in Italy, Canal+ in France, Sky Deutschland in Germany …

WARSAW: Christian Anting has been appointed to the newly created role of chief strategy officer and managing director of international distribution for Poland's TVN, effective immediately. Anting will be responsible for all strategic development, with a focus on retail and subscription-based services, e-commerce activities and nonfiction linear and non-linear exploitation. …

LOS ANGELES/ROME: In June 2014, SDI Media is set to open a new custom-designed, full service dubbing facility in Rome. The company has already hired employees for SDI Media Rome, which has begun production in the historical Il Messaggero newspaper building in the center of the city. The studios will …

LONDON: Shine TV has named Tanya Shaw as the company's creative director, effective in the spring. Shaw will report to Kelly Webb-Lamb, the managing director of Shine TV. She will be responsible for supervising the company's existing developments while increasing its catalogue of factual programming, including factual entertainment formats, features …