World Screen

ROME: An Italian court has ruled that state broadcaster Rai is in the wrong for blocking Sky Italia’s carriage of its free-to-air channels on the Sky platform. A Rome administrative court declared that Rai is violating its public service charter by encrypting its free-to-air channels, denying Sky the ability to …

PARIS: France’s Canal+ has signed up for Gaumont International Television’s new series Barbarella, which is being executive produced by Martha De Laurentiis and Nicolas Refn, who was behind the movie Drive. Refn is also directing. The series is based on the character created by Jean-Claude Forest in the sci-fi graphic …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide’s revenues for the year ended March 31, 2012, gained 5 percent to £1.085 billion, with profit up 8 percent to £155 million and a total return to the pubcaster of a record £216 million. The figures in the Annual Review for 2011/12 exclude the BBC Magazine business, the …

MUNICH: SevenOne International is rebranding as Red Arrow International, effective immediately, and is stepping up its efforts in gap financing and securing international co-pro partners following its success with properties like Lilyhammer. The new name reflects the branding of the entity’s parent company, Red Arrow Entertainment Group, the production-and-distribution arm …

NEW YORK/MADRID: Subscribers to Telefónica’s IPTV service, Movistar Imagenio, in Spain can now watch Sundance Channel on iPhones and iPads, in addition to the network’s linear distribution and availability on Android and BlackBerry devices. Sundance has been carried on Movistar Imagenio since June 2011, with SD and HD feeds. Several shows …

LONDON: ITV Studios has tapped Laura Gibson to fill the newly created role of creative director of comedy entertainment, where she will oversee the development of unscripted comedic formats. In her new post, Gibson will head up a comedy development team that includes Jack Kennedy as development executive and Susannah Hayley …

LONDON: A new report has found that imported feature films generated $4 billion for European broadcasters in 2011, with 18,600 titles broadcast across 119 channels in 21 countries, accounting for 96,861 hours screened. The new report from Essential Television Statistics, Madigan Cluff and Digital TV Research looks at the value of …

LAUSANNE/LONDON: In a deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the BBC has picked up the U.K. broadcasting rights to the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games. The pubcaster has secured the rights across all platforms, including online and mobile. "It’s terrific news in the days before BBC Sport begins …

LONDON/PARIS: Laurent Boissel, the CFO of Zodiak Media, is adding the role of COO to his remit, following Johnny Slow’s move to Zodiak Americas. Slow, formerly Zodiak’s COO, was recently named CEO of Los Angeles-based Zodiak Americas. Boissel in his new role continues to report to CEO David Frank. As part …

LONDON: Chello Zone has signed carriage deals with Dutch pay-TV providers KPN and Caiway for Mediaset Italia. Mediaset Italia—available for the first time in the Netherlands—will be the only Italian channel on both KPN and Caiway. It will feature programming from national Italian channels such as Rete 4, Canal 5 …