World Screen

DOHA: Al-Jazeera has been awarded the French broadcasting rights for the majority of the Champions League matches for the 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons, beating out Canal+. The deal is for four of five available media packages, including 133 matches, to air live across its TV channels, Internet and mobile services. …

LONDON: Panini Media has landed the international distribution rights for the drama Signs, a co-production budgeted at $12 million. Production on season one of 12 hour-long episodes is slated for March 2012. Delivery is planned for the end of 2012. The series is a Canadian production with international production partners …

LONDON: Shine Group and youth engagement specialist Livity have partnered to create a new production company that is exclusively dedicated to young content makers from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds. The as-yet-unnamed venture will be headed by Ben Hall, previously the managing director of Shine Group division Shine Network, and will …

LONDON: Channel 5 has scooped up the exclusive U.K. rights for the ABC Family drama The Lying Game for its 5* digital channel, along with the series Gilmore Girls. The Lying Game, which is set for prime time on 5* starting next spring, is based on the novels by Sara …

  This interview originally appeared in the MIPCOM 2011 issue of TV Europe.   While ProSiebenSat.1 Media has free-TV stations across Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe, it is the bouquet of channels and digital businesses in Germany that is the engine driving the company’s success. This broad-portfolio approach ensures …

LONDON: BBC and ITV have committed to sharing the official broadcast rights for the UEFA Euro 2012 in the U.K. The 31 matches of the competition will be broadcast live by both the BBC and ITV. They will split the games, each showing 16 matches, including the final, which both will broadcast. …

LONDON: Channel 4 has slated the hour-long special Rude Tube’s Epic Christmas to run on Christmas day, following the success of Rude Tube season five. Channel 4 commissioned October Films to produce the special, which is hosted by Alex Zane, who presents the 50 greatest online Christmas clips featuring bad …

LONDON: Lesley Douglas, the former controller of BBC Radio 2, has been made chief executive of the ALL3MEDIA company Lime Pictures. Douglas, who will start her new role in 2012, is currently the managing director of commercial media partnerships and Globe TV at Universal Music UK. She will take the …

LONDON: The U.K. regulator Ofcom has identified 20 sites for local TV stations should the proposed legislation get passed by Parliament. Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Grimsby, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Preston, Southampton and Swansea are the locations Ofcom will advertise …

LONDON: Modern Times Group (MTG) exec Camilla Hammer has been appointed as the CEO of Shine Group’s sales and distribution division, Shine International. Hammer will be based in London, following Shine’s recent relocation from Los Angeles. She will lead an international team of 42, responsible for the exploitation of worldwide …