World Screen

PREMIUM: Domestic television drama productions won Thursday prime time in three of the four largest markets of continental Western Europe on December 6. In Italy, the winning drama was even a repeat. In Spain the winner was a Spanish feature film. In France, TF1 won comfortably with long-running police series …

STOCKHOLM: Marek Singer has been hired as the new executive VP of Central European broadcasting operations for Modern Times Group (MTG), effective in the new year. In his new role, Singer will be in charge of MTG’s free-TV operations in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary. He …

VIENNA: ORF-Enterprise sold a number of titles at this year’s German Screenings, which took place earlier this week at the Westin Grand Hotel in Berlin. ORF-brand UNIVERSUM nature documentaries were a big hit for the distributor at the German TV-program market. The two-part Danube: Europe’s Amazon is slated for broadcast in …

LONDON: Turner Broadcasting System Europe has signed a broadcast affiliate agreement with the soon-to-launch Bulgarian network News7, which will be sharing resources with CNN International. Through the new agreement, which is a first of its kind for CNN in Eastern Europe, News7 joins CNN’s group of more than 1,100 worldwide …

LONDON: The NOOK Video service is now available in the U.K., with movies and TV shows from such providers as BBC Worldwide, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros., Starz and more. NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ customers in the U.K. can access content from recently signed new and expanded licensing partnerships with BBC Worldwide, HBO, NBCU, …

PARIS: This year’s Export Awards, which took place yesterday in Paris during the French Television Producer Awards gala ceremony, sent three best-sellers home with awards. Minuscule, distributed by Futurikon, won in the animation category, which also included Mediatoon Distribution’s The Adventures of Tintin and Millimages’ Mouk. As far as documentaries go, …

MUNICH/BERLIN: There are currently 1,424 online TV services in Germany, according to a report from Goldmedia, and the number of people accessing videos through this method of viewing has increased by around 17 percent year-on-year. The online TV market in Germany is consolidating and "gains continuing professionalism," states the report, Web TV Monitor 2012, …

MOSCOW: MTV Russia, a joint venture between Viacom International Media Networks and ProfMedia, will be taken off the air in mid-2013. VIMN and ProfMedia are ending their partnership, which will see the channel going dark as of May 2013. It will be replaced by a new entertainment channel, Friday (Pyatnitsa in …

LONDON: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks in the U.K. is planning to provide a range of services to support LondonTV, a proposed local channel for London that is backed by the Channel 6 Consortium. If the channel successfully scores a license, SPT Networks would become a program schedule provider and deliver …

LONDON: The Banijay Group company Nordisk FilmTV has entered into an exclusive pan-Scandinavian output deal with Elk Entertainment, the U.K. indie set up by the former heads of Friday TV, behind Minute to Win It. Nordisk FilmTV will serve as production partner to roll out new commissions across Scandinavia. Its …