World Screen

LONDON: As the deadline for the analog switchoff approaches, Digital UK, the body in charge of the process, warns that more than one million TV sets in the London region are set to go blank. One in ten households still have a television relying on an analog signal. The analog …

MODENA: Panini Media and AXN Sci-Fi Russia have entered a deal for the pay-TV rights for the series Metal Hurlant Chronicles, bringing seasons one and two of the show to Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia and Lithuania, among other territories.  Season will starts this summer, airing on AXN Sci-Fi in Armenia, …

LONDON/SANTA MONICA: A number of films from the Miramax portfolio will be made available to UKTV subscribers in the U.K. and Ireland across basic pay and DTT channels.  UKTV operates ten channel brands—Watch, Gold, Dave, Alibi, Yesterday, Blighty, Eden, Home, Really and Good Food—in addition to other services. Miramax films …

HERTFORDSHIRE: Parthenon Entertainment is celebrating its 10-year anniversary as it heads to MIPTV with 110 hours of programming and a range of new topical titles.   Parthenon will bring content to MIPTV such as The Embezzlers: Inside the Soviet Mafia, a six-part HD series which reveals corruption and embezzlement at …

STRASBOURG: There was a 47.8-percent increase in the number of HD channels in Europe last year, with 375 new networks launched in the E.U. in total, according to figures from the MAVISE TV database. According to MAVISE, at the end of 2011 there were approximately 612 HD channels available in Europe; this …

LONDON: Zodiak Media has sold its Mastiff Media Polska production outfit to its management team, led by Grzegorz Piekarski and backed by Swedish private-equity firm Layline Partners, headed by Olle Langenius. Mastiff Media Polska is the Polish production company behind local versions of So You Think You Can Dance, Don’t …

PARIS: Among the offerings from adult-entertainment company Marc Dorcel is the Dorcel app, as well as a 3D VOD service. The Dorcel app offers viewers access to Marc Dorcel content and services from TV screens. The app is now being developed with TV manufacturers in the Netherlands, Korea and Japan. …

CANNES/SANTA MONICA: Sky Italia is set to air a number of titles from the Miramax library on its pay-TV channels in Italy.  The Miramax slate has more than 700 motion pictures. A number of these titles have been licensed to Sky Italia for pay TV under a new movie deal.  …

CANNES: Lionsgate International has sold the new Charlie Sheen comedy Anger Management to Viasat Broadcasting’s free-TV channels in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The pact with the Modern Times Group-owned group follows deals on the show in Canada, Latin America and Germany. Anger Management marks Sheen’s return to television following his exit from …

LONDON: Shed Media Group has acquired a majority stake in Renegade Pictures, which now joins brands such as Shed Productions, Wall to Wall, Twenty Twenty and Ricochet.   The Renegade Pictures team, including new editorial director and former BBC commissioner Harry Lansdown, will continue to operate from its current London …