World Screen

LONDON: David Schwimmer (Friends) has joined the cast of the new Julia Davis sitcom Morning Has Broken, due to air in 2016 on Channel 4.   The 6×30-minute series is produced by Brown Eyed Boy. Davis will play the role of Gail Sinclair, the star of a TV morning show. Schwimmer will play …

LONDON: Freesat has launched five new music and entertainment channels, including FOX International Channels’ YourTV. The entertainment channel YourTV is FOX International Channels’ first-ever network for the U.K. free-to-air market. It features programming such as the Emmy-nominated drama Shark, Baking Good, Baking Bad and Corrupt Crimes. Additional new channels are Chilled, …

LONDON: FOX International Channels (FIC) has promoted Jeff Ford to senior VP of content development for Europe and Africa, in addition to his current role as the managing director for the U.K. Ford reports to Diego Londono, the COO for FIC Europe and Africa. He will continue to be based …

LONDON: FremantleMedia has acquired a majority stake in the French producer Kwai, which specializes in fiction TV movies and series. Kwai is led by writer and producer Thomas Bourguignon, creator of the popular French detective series Femmes de Loi, which ran from 2000 to 2009. Kwai recently delivered two TV …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide and All3Media Germany are combining their format catalogues into a single collection for the jointly owned production company Tower Productions. Tower Productions will have exclusive access to both BBC Worldwide’s and All3Media’s catalogues of non-scripted formats. Me, Myself & Eye Entertainment (MME) will no longer operate as …

LONDON: Kelly Butler is set to resign as senior VP of FOX Sports Europe and Africa at FOX International Channels (FIC) Europe and Africa. Butler joined FIC in 2013 when the company acquired Setanta Africa. During her time at FIC, she helped steer the strategic direction and management of several …

STOCKHOLM: Modern Times Group (MTG) has secured another three years of English Premier League soccer matches, adding Finland to a coverage that includes Sweden and Denmark. MTG will exclusively air live games for the 2016-17 to 2018-19 seasons. The matches will be shown on a combination of MTG’s Viasat and …

ISTANBUL: The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) has outlined a series of special events and promotions taking place at MIPCOM, where Turkey is being celebrated as this year's Country of Honour. MIPCOM is set to welcome top Turkish acting talents, including Hülya Avşar, Halit Ergenç, Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, Beren Saat, Tuğba …

CANNES: Two of the top dramas in BBC Worldwide’s MIPCOM catalogue, War and Peace and Dickensian, draw on classic literature. Andrew Davies is behind the new TV adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and Tony Jordan is taking viewers back to a Victorian London populated by Charles Dickens’ most …

CANNES: Among the highlights from ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) are Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands and Jekyll and Hyde, a pair of action-adventure series produced by ITV Studios. “We have no doubt that these shows will appeal to our broadcast and digital partners around the world and will …