World Screen

MILAN: In Italy, Sky has acquired the exclusive TV rights for the FIM MotoGP World Championship, starting from the 2014 season. Sky gains exclusive rights to broadcast all 18 races of the three classes from the FIM MotoGP World Championship, via an agreement with Dorna, the company organizing the championship. Under …

ISTANBUL: D-Smart has sealed a two-year TV distribution deal that brings WWE’s weekly flagship programs WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown to the digital broadcasting platform in Turkey. The one-hour international versions of both shows will be available every Saturday night on D-Smart’s Smart Spor. SmackDown will air at 11 p.m., …

LONDON: Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe are on board for a new four-part comedy/drama, A Young Doctor’s Notebook, based on the memoirs of a Russian doctor working during the Russian Revolution, as part of Sky Arts’ Playhouse Presents… programming. Hamm will take on the role of the older doctor, who …

LONDON: CBS Studios International has licensed a trio of critically acclaimed series, including Twin Peaks, to the Horror Channel in Italy. Starting in June, Twin Peaks will be shown digitally remastered for the first time in the territory. Starting in July, the channel will be airing the sci-fi horror series …

UNTERFÖHRING: Kabel Deutschland is acquiring the Berlin-based Tele Colombus Group for a purchase price of 603 million euros ($769.5 million) plus accrued interest. The price will provide repayment in full of the financial debt of Tele Colombus, a provider of basic cable services to approximately 1.7 million customers. The outfit …

This interview originally appeared in the MIPTV 2012 issue of TV Europe.   Back in 2000, two television companies, ProSieben Media and Sat.1, merged to form the largest broadcasting group in Germany, ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Since then, the company has expanded beyond Germany’s borders and diversified its business. Today, ProSiebenSat.1 Media …

LONDON: With Netflix’s arrival in the U.K. and LOVEFiLM expanding its slate of offerings, the Competition Commission has revised its findings on the pay-TV market for movies, asserting that Sky Movies no longer provides the Sky platform with a "material advantage" over its competitors. In August 2011, the competition authority …

LOS ANGELES: CBS Studios International (CBSSI) unveiled Wednesday in the midst of the L.A. Screenings the renewal of a multi-year output deal with SBS Broadcasting’s flagship Dutch networks. The renewal secures for ProSieben-owned SBS’s Netherlands outlets the free-to-air rights for TV series from the Hollywood studio, most of which air …

HAMILTON: Building out its channel portfolio, Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has launched Acasa Gold, a niche service targeting urban women, in the Romanian market. Acasa Gold will air classic telenovelas, alongside cooking shows, musicals and series produced by MediaPro Entertainment and third parties. The long-running Czech hospital drama Rose …

AMSTERDAM: Chellomedia’s premium Dutch movie channel Film1 is gaining access to new releases and library titles from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios catalogue. The two outfits signed an exclusive agreement for pay TV and SVOD. This brings to the channel movies such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hobbit: An Unexpected …