World Screen

GLASGOW: STV Productions and GroupM Entertainment have teamed up to establish a strategic development partnership that will see the two firms co-invest, co-develop and co-produce concepts across a range of genres. The focus of the agreement will be on the creation of new entertainment, factual and drama projects that will …

UNTERFÖHRING: ProSieben MAXX has extended its agreement with A+E Networks to acquire additional programming, including new episodes of Duck Dynasty. In addition to new episodes of the reality series Duck Dynasty from seasons four and five, ProSieben MAXX picked up season one of The Legend of Shelby the Swamp Man. ProSieben …

LONDON: BBC One has unveiled a range of new commissions, including an as-yet-untitled drama from Oscar-winner Steve McQueen and a musical series using Motown tunes. That 6×1-hour series will span three decades in the lives of members of a West Indian community in London, starting in 1968 at the moment …

LONDON: BBC Two has unveiled a host of new commissions, including an adaptation of The City and the City. The City and the City is adapted by Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) from China Mielville’s fantasy thriller novel. It will be produced by Mammoth Screen. Set in …

STOCKHOLM: MTG has completed the acquisition of the shares in Turtle Entertainment, the world’s largest e-sports company, which operates the ESL brand. With this, MTG has completed all of the three digital acquisitions announced in July. The company will now focus on enabling them to expand even faster by leveraging …

PREMIUM: Director-General Thomas Bellut explains to TV Europe how ZDF has been reaching out to younger viewers on the main channel and online. TV EUROPE: ZDF had strong ratings in 2014. What contributed to such good performance and how have ratings been so far in 2015? BELLUT: Indeed, ZDF was …

POTSDAM/LONDON: Nico Hofmann has been appointed co-CEO of UFA Group, which is the German production arm of FremantleMedia, sharing the post with Wolf Bauer. The appointment is part of a new two-year transition, which will see Hofmann take over sole CEO responsibilities in September 2017, allowing Bauer to focus on …

ZAGREB: The Serbian IPTV platform mts TV has added the SVOD service Pickbox.tv to its offering.  As of today, the platform is able to offer thousands of hours of Pickbox's content to its users. Pickbox.tv was launched in May 2014 across Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has for the first time struck a deal with YouTube talent, teaming up with vloggers Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee for an exclusive commission. That project, titled Joe & Caspar Hit the Road, will be a one-off 75-minute-plus show set for purchase starting November 23 in the …

UKTV CEO Darren Childs tells TV Europe about what has been driving the television company’s growth. TV EUROPE: What has been driving UKTV’s growth? CHILDS: It’s been driven by the audience. One of the things we track and monitor is our share of commercial viewing—comparing ourselves to our commercial counterparts …