World Screen

LONDON: Cuckoo is a brand-new comedy series from Roughcut Television for BBC Three that features Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live) alongside British comedian Greg Davies (The Inbetweeners). The show was created and written by Robin French and Kieron Quirke. It centers on Ken (Davies) and Lorna (Helen Baxendale) Thomas, who collect …

ROME: Sky Italia is bringing to Italy its first channel exclusively dedicated to art with the fall launch of Sky Arte HD. Sky Arte HD will feature programming that showcases Italy’s cultural and artistic heritage. The channel will launch on November 1, featuring a schedule that has reportage, magazines, features, …

LONDON: Sky will remain as the primary U.K. home for Premier League Football, securing 116 live matches per year for the seasons from 2013-14 until 2015-16. Sky Sports will show 116 matches per season. BT will show 38 games, while ESPN UK and Al Jazeera will show none. Sky will …

AMSTERDAM: HBO has expanded the distribution of its channels in the Netherlands, securing carriage with new cable operators. As of June 25, KPN and XS4ALL will offer the HD channels HBO, HBO2 and HBO3. Telefort will begin offering HBO on July 9. The channels will also be available in standard …

LONDON: Gold has commissioned the one-off The Comic Strip Presents: Five Go to Rehab alongside the documentary 30 Years of The Comic Strip. The Comic Strip Presents debuted in 1982 with Five Go Mad in Dorset. Gold is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the series with The Comic Strip Presents: …

LONDON: A raft of sales have been secured by ALL3MEDIA International across Central and Eastern Europe, ahead of the company’s outing at NATPE Budapest. From the drama catalogue, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries heads to Canal Plus Poland. HRT in Croatia extended its deal for Wild at Heart for seasons four …

LONDON/SANTA MONICA: Sky has secured the exclusive rights to a package of Miramax films in a multi-year licensing deal for the U.K. and Ireland. The deal included such films as Life is Beautiful, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Spy Kids and Starsky & Hutch. The movies will be available across the range …

HAMILTON: Time Warner has shelled out $89 million to increase its ownership in Central European Media Enterprises (CME) to 40 percent. CME sold 9.9 million shares of Class A common stock to Time Warner Media Holdings, and 2 million shares to RSL Capital, an affiliate of Ronald Lauder, CME’s non-executive …

BUDAPEST: Chello Central Europe’s Filmmuzeum is being rebranded as Film Mania, while its Zone Romantica channel becomes Film Café. The new look for both will be unveiled on July 2, with new logos as well. Film Mania offers movies primarily from the 1990s and the 2000s. Film Café, which targets …

  This feature originally appeared in the MIPTV 2012 issue of TV Europe.   Arguably one of the most dynamic television markets in Europe, Spain has seen its share of alternating cycles of growth and consolidation in the last two decades. Now more than ever before, it is struggling to …