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LONDON: Syfy has acquired the exclusive U.K. rights for the supernatural comedy series Todd & the Book of Pure Evil in a deal with Entertainment One (eOne). The 13-part first season debuted on Canada’s SPACE channel in 2010, and began its second season in October 2011. Syfy has the rights …

LONDON: Parthenon Media Group has appointed Charles Gurassa to the role of non-executive chairman of its board of directors. Gurassa is currently the non-executive chairman of the restaurant group Tragus and Genesis Housing Association; the deputy chairman at easyJet and MACH; and a trustee of the National Trust. He was …

LONDON: Channel 4’s digital channel E4 has secured the U.K. broadcast rights to the U.S. comedy series Suburgatory from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. Suburgatory will air in the U.K. on E4 this year. The new half-hour series stars Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under, Law & Order, Thirteen), Jane Levy …

LONDON: With strong consumer demand and active fiber rollouts, Europe continues to be the leader for IPTV, according to the latest estimates from the Broadband Forum. IPTV is approaching 55 million subscribers globally, and European markets account for 23.5 million of those customers. Hybrid Fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) deployments have been on …

LOS ANGELES/PARIS: DISCOP Istanbul organizer Basic Lead has partnered with the TEDxSilkRoad event for an enhanced conference and business networking program. The partnership will result in a day dedicated to "Decoding the Future." Chaired by Ferhan Cook, the curator of TEDxSilkRoad, the "Decoding the Future" session will focus on the …

Event Preview: DISCOP Istanbul Following a successful launch in 2011, DISCOP Istanbul is back for a second edition, to take place February 28 to March 1. Hundreds of companies have signed up for the event, a mix of content buyers and suppliers representing broadcasters, pay-TV operators, mobile networks, alternative distribution …

MILAN: The ICC Court of Arbitration has rejected claims from RTI (Mediaset Group) against Sky Italia regarding a dispute over the 2010 FIFA World Cup. RTI has been alleging that Sky purchased the broadcast rights breaching the prohibition imposed by the "Undertakings" that the pay-TV signed with the European Commission in …

STOCKHOLM: Viasat Broadcasting has extended its live broadcasting rights for the National Football League (NFL) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, through to the 2017 season. The rights include live broadcast coverage on free and pay TV, and live simulcast for mobile phones and the Internet. Beginning with the 2012 …

PARIS: The Super Sunday event program at MIPTV, which is also open to MIPCube participants, will feature keynotes from Amazon’s Anthony Bay, Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka and Discovery’s JB Perrette. MIPTV kicks off on Sunday, April 1, and runs until Wednesday, April 4. The Super Sunday program is focused on Connected …

PARIS: Novavision has set up an acquisitions department, to be run by Charlene Calmano, who will report to François-Xavier Poirier, the president and CEO of the company. The number of international rights holders supplying Novavision with content has almost doubled in the past year, to 16 at the end of …