World Screen

MUNICH: Tele München Group (TMG) has picked up around 850,000 additional shares in Odeon Film, upping its stake from 33 percent to more than 40 percent. Odeon Film is one of Germany’s leading independent production companies, with a catalogue of around 78 TV series with approximately 2,600 episodes, 174 TV movies, …

LONDON: The British production house talkbackTHAMES is ditching its name as part of a restructure that splits the brand into four separate departments under the new division FremantleMedia UK. Effective January 1, 2012, the restructure divides the indie producer into separate costumer-focused label brands focused on comedy, comedy entertainment, entertainment …

PARIS: Hyoe Narita has been promoted to the role of president of VIZ Media Europe (VME). Narita, the former executive VP at VIZ Media in San Francisco, will replace John Easum, who will be stepping down at the end of the month to pursue new initiatives. Narita will be responsible …

LONDON: Season three of the BBC One sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys has been commissioned prior to the second season’s run. Mrs. Brown’s Boys is created, written by and starring Brendan O’Carroll as Agnes Brown. The series features the cast of the stage production that the TV show is based on. …

WARSAW: The Polish DTH service Platform ‘n’ has unveiled a new OTT service, nVOD NET, which delivers offerings from HBO On Demand and the TVN Player. nVOD NET transforms the Platform ‘n’ satellite receiver into a multimedia home-entertainment terminal. The service delivers a broad selection of films, documentaries, TV series and …

AMSTERDAM: Chellomedia’s Sport1 channel in the Netherlands has renewed its agreement for the broadcast rights for the UEFA Champions League for the next three seasons. Sport1 is signed up to provide live coverage and edited highlights across its channels and online until 2015. Sport1 is also set to broadcast the …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide Channels has tapped former UKTV executive Tracy Forsyth to serve in the new role of VP of commissioning, in an effort to increase the production of original content. Forsyth, who takes on the role in January 2012, will act as BBC Worldwide’s executive producer on all commissions as …

LONDON: Zodiak Rights has landed sales with broadcasters in Australia and New Zealand for more than 50 hours of programming. Network Ten in Australia picked up the new series Food Hospital, an eight-episode hour-long series produced for Channel 4 in the U.K. by betty. It examines the science behind using …

MILAN: MP & Silva has acquired the international media rights for the Italian Serie A through the 2014-15 season. The rights cover all territories outside of Italy. The new agreement covers the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. Riccardo Silva, the president of MP & Silva, said: “Since 2004 Italian Serie …

LONDON: Sky Sports F1 HD, a new service launching in March 2012, is dedicated to providing in-depth Formula 1 coverage, including live events from the Grand Prix season. The dedicated channel will be provided at no extra cost to Sky TV customers who already have Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports …