LONDON: Comedian and actor Jason Manford is set to host the new series The Money Pit on UKTV's entertainment channel Dave. The series watches as six people risk their own money to invest in ideas and small businesses of aspiring entrepreneurs. Dozens of amateur investors will decide which entrepreneurs, inventors, …
World Screen
NATPE Europe Adds More Sessions
May 27, 2015
LOS ANGELES: An expanded sessions lineup has been added to next month’s NATPE Europe in Prague, as well as a keynote by showrunner Adrian Hodges. An award-winning writer and creator, Hodges most recently created the BBC series The Musketeers. He will share his experiences and perspective of the global television …
Lagardère Active Acquires Grupo Boomerang TV
May 28, 2015
PARIS: Lagardère Active has picked up an 82 percent stake in the Spanish audiovisual production outfit Grupo Boomerang TV. The remaining 18 percent stake will continue to be held by the founding partners, who will carry on with the day-to-day management of the group. Grupo Boomerang TV was set up …
Russia’s ivi Enhances Personalization of VOD Service
May 28, 2015
MOSCOW: The Russian VOD platform ivi is launching a personalized TV service that is meant to combine traditional television with a recommendation system. The newly launched ivi tv is being touted as a "first-of-its-kind personalized TV service," which is based on and integrated into ivi's VOD platform. The service features …
Three FilmBox Channels Set for Hungaryâs DIGI
May 28, 2015
BUDAPEST: SPI International has secured carriage for three FilmBox movie channels on the DIGI platform in Hungary. The FilmBox channel brand will make its debut on June 1 on the DIGI satellite network in Hungary. The premium package, called FilmMix, will include FilmBox, FilmBox Family and FilmBox Plus. "During the …
Enterprises Sonor Picks Up Eberhard Schoener Music Catalogue
May 28, 2015
MAINZ: Enterprises Sonor, a joint venture between ZDF Enterprises and Bavaria Media, is jumping into the music field after acquiring more than 1,000 titles from musician Eberhard Schoener. The rights pickup sets the stage for Sonor to enter the music-production industry. The studio also holds a few other productions by …
UKTV Greenlights First Original Comedies for Gold
May 28, 2015
LONDON: UKTV has commissioned three titles for its classic-comedy channel Gold as part of its push to air more original scripted content on the network. Among the new commissions is Henry IX, a single-camera series set in the fictitious, contemporary court of Henry IX, King of the United Kingdom. Also …
BBC Defends iPlayer Amid Reports of Recent Usage Drops
May 29, 2015
LONDON: While the BBC's latest monthly report reveals that iPlayer figures have fallen for the third consecutive month, Dan Taylor-Watt, the head of BBC iPlayer, is defending the performance in a blog post to "correct some misleading headlines." "There were a number of articles suggesting iPlayer’s popularity is on the …
Prime Entertainment Group Sells Titles into Nordics
May 29, 2015
PARIS/LOS ANGELES: Pay-TV channel C More Entertainment has clinched a package featuring more than 50 hours of content from Prime Entertainment Group, to be aired across the Nordics. The acquired titles are the weekly magazine Hollywood News Feed and the celebrity-bio program Close Up. The former has already been sold …
ITV Buys Poldark Producer Mammoth Screen
June 1, 2015
LONDON: ITV plc has acquired Mammoth Screen, which is behind such hit scripted productions as Poldark. ITV has held a 25 percent equity investment in Mammoth Screen since 2007 and has now acquired the remaining 75 percent of the company. ITV Studios’ distribution arm, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, has an …