World Screen

LONDON: UKTV has ordered a second season of You, Me & Them, the first original sitcom for the comedy channel Gold that began airing late last year. Starring Anthony Head and Eve Myles, You, Me & Them is about a couple with more than a 20-year age difference. The show …

MILAN: The Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica has agreed to purchase an 11.1 percent stake in the Mediaset Premium pay-TV business for 100 million euros ($136 million). The agreement comes shortly after Telefónica bought Mediaset España's 22 percent stake in Canal Plus. Mediaset will now transfer its pay-TV activities to a …

LUXEMBOURG: RTL Group has said that a new tax on advertising in Hungary will severely impact its business and is calling on the Hungarian government to revise the policy, which it believes is specifically aimed at the pan-European broadcaster. The Advertisement Tax Act was approved by the Hungarian parliament on …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has licensed its first original comedy commission, Almost Royal, to E4 for a U.K. broadcast. The comedy, produced for BBC America, is about two young British aristocrats on their first trip to the U.S. and follows as they interact with Americans. The series stars Ed Gamble and Amy …

BERLIN/SANTA MONICA: Lionsgate and STUDIOCANAL are building on their relationship for the distribution of feature films in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Under the terms of the new output deal, STUDIOCANAL will launch an upcoming slate of films from the Lionsgate catalogue in these markets. This includes the next two installments …

LONDON: Ben Farrell, the head of comedy at Objective Productions, has been appointed as an executive producer for BBC's in-house comedy division, effective September 2014. Since becoming Objective's head of comedy in 2008, Farrell has exec produced such hit shows as Toast of London, Game Face, Parents, Big Bad World, …

LONDON: The Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report has revised its forecasts upwards for the U.K.'s ad market, with growth rates predicted to reach 6 percent in 2014 and 6.7 percent in 2015, as TV enjoys a welcome lift from the World Cup. According to the report, total U.K. advertising expenditure increased …

LONDON: Melanie Leach has been named CEO of the newly rebranded Twofour Group, formed through the merger of Boom Pictures and Twofour, which is also separating out its digital business as a standalone operation. Leach, previously the managing director of Twofour, will lead the consolidation of Boom and Twofour Broadcast, …

LONDON: John Stanley, the senior VP and managing director of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group in the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Nordics, is taking on overall leadership of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution UK and Warner Bros. Consumer Products UK. Stanley's new responsibilities will be added on to his existing duties. …

LONDON: Tony Hall, the BBC's director-general, has unveiled plans that would do away with the BBC's current programming quota system, also proposing that in-house producers should be able to make shows for other broadcasters. Hall was speaking at the "Future of the Licence Fee" seminar in London when he described …