World Screen

LONDON: Justin Gorman, the former head of entertainment at Channel 4, has launched an independent television production company, Man Alive Entertainment, with FremantleMedia acquiring a 25 percent stake. FremantleMedia also has the option to increase its share in the future. The new outfit will develop and produce large-scale entertainment and …

LONDON: Julia Davis, who's behind the hits Nighty Night and Hunderby, has written a new six-part comedy for Sky Atlantic, Robin's Test. The comedy is about a group of couples on a birthday camping trip to Dorset. It stars Davis, alongside Rufus Jones (W1A), Vicki Pepperdine (Together) Steve Pemberton (Inside …

LONDON: The BBC iPlayer, which has been available on devices such as Roku and Chromecast, has finally launched on Apple TV in the U.K. The dedicated app rolled out in time for the holidays. It features a 30-day window for catch-up content, plus streaming of shows from BBC One, Two, …

PARIS: TV France International has revealed the winners of this year's Export Awards, which recognize the sales companies behind the best-selling French productions around the world. The victor in the animation category was PGS Entertainment for ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks. The other nominees were Millimages for Mouk and Xilam Animation …

AMSTERDAM: T-Mobile Netherlands has unveiled Knippr, an OTT service that allows Dutch consumers to customize their own bouquet of channels. Knippr is billed as a "skinny bundle" and will offer a basic plan of live channels. Customers can then add more channels as they choose. The service will work with …

LONDON: William Miller, formerly the head of talent at BBC Worldwide, and Ruth Wrigley, who previously served as all3media's head of entertainment and formats, have launched a new independent production outfit, Raconteur Associates. Raconteur Associates will focus on developing non-scripted programming and formats. Its aim will be on developing and …

WARSAW/VIENNA: Austria’s A1 TV has added two thematic channels from SPI International/FilmBox’s pay-TV portfolio to its offering. DocuBox HD and Fast&FunBox HD are now part of A1 TV’s English-language Premium TV package. DocuBox HD showcases a collection of award-winning documentary features that explore the mysteries of Earth. Meanwhile, car racing, …

MUNICH/BERLIN/LOS ANGELES: Philipp Kreuzer and Jörg Schulze have launched a new independent film and TV label, Maze Pictures, which will develop, finance, produce and co-produce a range of original content for the German and international markets. Maze Pictures is teaming up with Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp Television on The Crimson Rivers, …

STOCKHOLM: Johanna Bergenstråhle has been hired by TV4 Group as executive producer of drama and comedy, effective January 11. Bergenstråhle joins TV4 Group from Jarowskij, where she produced the Swedish-American comedy Welcome to Sweden. She has also produced a number of movies and series, including the feature-film trilogy JerryMaya's Detective Agency for …

LONDON: Digital UK, which manages the logical channel number (LCN) listings for DTT/Freeview, has launched a consultation about what to do with BBC Three's channel position once the service moves online. With the BBC Trust's decision to transition BBC Three to an online-only service, the SD and HD linear services …