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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 …

LONDON: Andreas Boenisch, formerly of Zodiak Rights, has become a partner in Can’t Stop Media, the venture launched by fellow ex-Zodiak executive Matthieu Porte. Boenisch, previously VP of sales at Zodiak Rights, will work with Porte to expand Can’t Stop’s sales and acquisitions efforts, with a particular emphasis on ramping up …

PARIS: Ad revenues at M6 Group were down by 2.2 percent in the first half of the year, with the French broadcasting group’s overall revenues for the period down by 1.2 percent to 710.8 million euros. Ad revenues at the M6 channel fell 4 percent to 342.1 million euros, but …

LONDON: ESPN has picked up French Ligue 1 broadcast rights for the U.K. and Ireland while also extending its deals for other European football leagues, including Italian Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga. ESPN today announced the renewals of Italian Serie A, Eredivisie and the Russian Premier League across TV and digital …

PARIS: Advertising revenues for TF1’s flagship channel dropped by 5.9 percent to 713.2 million euros in the first half, while net profit fell by 21.2 percent to 93.5 million euros. Total revenues for the group in the period were down 1.8 percent to 1.3 billion euros, with other activities—outside of …

LONDON: BSkyB has reported a record financial performance for the year ended June 30, 2012, with revenues rising to £6.8 billion and operating profit increasing by 14 percent to £1.2 billion. The platform’s customer base now stands at 10.6 million, an increase of 312,000 on last year, with a churn …