According to SNL Kagan, over the last two years Eastern Europe has remained an active pay-TV market from an M&A perspective, with high fragmentation in the cable sector leading to ongoing consolidation. There is high pay-TV penetration, the firm finds, which limits greenfield growth opportunities in cable, while intense competition among multiple DTH operators increases the need for competitive offers.

In the U.K., SVOD viewing on services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime accounted for 4 percent of total video consumption, up from 2.3 percent in 2014, according to new figures from Thinkbox. The average TV viewer in the U.K. watched a total of 3 hours, 51 minutes of TV a day in 2015, 1 percent less than in 2014 but 5 percent more than in 2005.

LUXEMBOURG: Net profit for 2015 was up 21 percent to 789 million euros ($865 million) at RTL Group, which posted revenues of 6.03 billion euros ($6.61 billion), up 3.8 percent.

NEW YORK: The brand-new channel VICELAND will become available to Sky and NOW TV customers in the U.K. and Ireland this September.

OSLO: FremantleMedia Norway has named Hege Skjerven Johansen as its new head of development.

LONDON: Zodiak Rights, which is now part of the Banijay Group, has secured a first-look finance and distribution deal with Arise Pictures, which has a slate that spans across drama, action and family entertainment.

LONDON: Emmanuelle Namiech, formerly the managing director of Banijay International, has been appointed CEO of Passion Distribution.

LONDON: Sony Pictures Television will launch a new U.K. channel brand, True Crime, on March 22 on Freeview.

LONDON: Turner has brought its film channel TCM to BT TV in the U.K.

LONDON: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced that Greg Dyke has been appointed as its VP for television.