World Screen

LONDON: Noel Hedges has been named senior VP of acquisitions for Cineflix Rights, a newly created position, effective in September. Hedges will work under Chris Bonney, the CEO of Rights for Cineflix Media, and will be in charge of the department’s third-party acquisitions strategy. He is expected to help grow …

MADRID: With revenues down by 8.6 percent in the first half of the year to 384.7 million euros, Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 reported a net income for the period of 17.9 million euros, a 66.8-percent reduction on the first half of 2011. The broadcaster noted that its television revenues were 332.8 …

LONDON: Sky has acquired Parthenon Media Group in order to set up a distribution arm that will sell the platform’s original content to the worldwide market. Reporting to Sophie Turner Laing, Sky’s managing director of entertainment, news and broadcast operations, Parthenon’s founder and CEO Carl Hall will lead Sky’s new …

HAMBURG: The video-on-demand platform Viewster has reached a licensing deal with Warner Bros. for a slate of movie titles to be offered on its platform in Germany and a host of other markets. Current releases as well as around 1,000 catalogue titles will be made available on Viewster in German-speaking territories—beginning with …

DUBLIN: BalconyTV, an online music network that started as a YouTube show, has tapped ex-MTV Networks CEO Judy McGrath as an advisor, and has secured institutional funding from Polaris Venture Partners, Lerer Ventures and Greycroft Partners. Founded by Stephen O’Regan, Tom Millett and Pauline Freeman in Dublin, the network originated as a …

LONDON: Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony garnered nearly 27 million viewers in the U.K. on BBC One and set records in the U.S. on NBC as well as in Canada. The average viewership on BBC One for the four-hour event was 22.4 million. The ceremony had a 82 percent share …

ZURICH: The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken over the marketing, planning and organization of the Rose d’Or Festival brand following a restructure within Ringier’s entertainment division, and will move the event to a new venue, in Lucerne. Ringier took over Rose d’Or in 2009 from Freddy Burger Management. The …

LOS ANGELES: Nearly 500 companies have already signed up to attend the next edition of DISCOP Istanbul, which is set for March 5 to 7, 2013. More than 250 broadcasters, pay-TV platforms, IPTV services and other platforms are expected. The conference will continue to support the development of Western Asia’s …

PREMIUM: Hans-Holger Albrecht, who is stepping down from Modern Times Group this September, tells World Screen Newsflash about how the company has been working with advertisers amid challenging economic times across Europe.   WS: How has MTG been working to maintain and increase ad revenues? ALBRECHT: Demand is still higher …

LONDON: LOVEFiLM subscribers in the U.K. and Germany are gaining streaming access to the Miramax library, which houses such titles as There Will Be Blood and The Aviator. Starting this summer, titles such as Sin City, Kill Bill and Jackie Brown will be available on demand through the Amazon service …