World Screen

WARSAW: Orange Slovakia has added to its FilmBox Premium package, offering both movie and thematic channels from SPI International/FilmBox.  The FilmBox channel bouquet on Orange now consists of FilmBox Premium, FilmBox Extra HD, FilmBox Plus, FightBox HD, 360TuneBox HD and Eroxxx HD. The package features titles such as the series …

LONDON: Entertainment One (eOne) has clinched the worldwide licensing rights for David Brent: Life on the Road, a film follow-up to Ricky Gervais’ hit comedy The Office. eOne will be charged with looking to sign partners across apparel and accessories, home and giftware, stationery, greetings and novelty toys. It will …

PARIS: Announcing its earnings for the first nine months of 2015, Vivendi said it had reached an agreement to take 26.2 percent of the combined Banijay/Zodiak group, with the deal set to close during the first half of next year. The transaction involves a cash payment of 290 million euros …

LONDON: Jon Mountague, who has been serving as Sky’s acting head of comedy since September, will now officially take over the position as part of a wider entertainment-team restructure. He will oversee a commissioning slate that includes the upcoming Mid Morning Matters (Steve Coogan), Rovers (Sue Johnston and Craig Cash), Hunderby (Julia …

LONDON: Endemol Shine's Lovely Day and Shine Pictures will now be part of Kudos, the company's U.K.-based scripted content outfit known for hits like Broadchurch and Humans. Kudos founded the Lovely Day label in 2010 under Diederick Santer. Earlier this year, Santer was named joint CEO of Kudos alongside Daniel …

LUXEMBOURG: A surge in digital revenues and gains at its German and Dutch operations and at FremantleMedia contributed to a 7.5-percent boost in revenues at the RTL Group in the third quarter. For the period, revenues were 1.35 billion euros ($1.46 billion), with net profit rising by almost 10 percent …

WARSAW: Kino Polska TV is planning to take a 49-percent stake of Cable Television Network & Partners (CTNP), which is set to launch a new DTT news channel in Poland. SPI International's Polish media company Kino Polska TV says it will spend PLN 10 million ($2.5 billion) for an interest …

STOCKHOLM: MTG has acquired DreamHack, Scandinavia's leading eSports company, for SEK 244 million ($28 million). DreamHack runs both local and global eSports leagues, tournaments and championships. Its seven live events in 2014 attracted a total audience of over 105,000 people, and eSports fans have watched 34 million hours of DreamHack …

LONDON/NEW YORK: HBO has extended its programming pact with Sky, making Sky Atlantic the home of content from the premium channel in 21 million homes across Germany, Austria, Italy, the U.K. and Ireland. The deal extends the pact HBO has had with Sky in the U.K. to all of the …

STRASBOURG: Europe's top 12 media companies accounted for 62 percent of the region's content revenues last year, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. There are 12 companies from the continent in the Observatory's Yearbook 2015 ranking of the world's top 50 media companies based on audiovisual revenues. The Observatory notes …