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NEW YORK: HBO has struck up a partnership with Peter Ekelund’s Parsifal International to establish the new joint multiplatform VOD service HBO Nordic. HBO Nordic will be available in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The news follows on the heels of Netflix just yesterday announcing that it was bringing its streaming …

LONDON: Six U.K.-based digital media start-up companies have been selected to take part in the first BBC Worldwide Labs initiative. MiniMonos, wireWAX, Foodity, Krowd 9, Flooved and KO-SU have been selected by BBC Worldwide for the first program. These start-ups are offered workspace within BBC Worldwide’s offices in West London, starting September …

LONDON: Stephen Ladlow has been appointed the director of Challenge and Pick TV, Sky’s free-to-air entertainment channel brands. Ladlow has been with Sky since 2002, holding a number of positions at Sky’s ad sales house, Sky Media. He now takes over responsibility for Challenge, a service dedicated to game shows …

MADRID: Mediapro and Prisa’s Canal+ have reached an agreement to share La Liga broadcasting rights, settling a dispute that had threatened to delay the start of the season, which kicks off tomorrow. The three-year agreement sees Prisa’s Canal+ taking on the exclusive pay-TV rights for 28 games featuring Real Madrid, FC …

STOCKHOLM: Modern Times Group (MTG) is launching 11 HD channels and four catch-up services as part of its Viasat offerings in the Nordic market. The premium pay-TV sports channel Viasat Golf and the pay-TV factual channels Viasat History, Viasat Explorer, Viasat Nature and Viasat Crime will be launched in HD in Sweden, …

LONDON: Mockumentary filmmaker Christopher Guest and Irish actor Chris O’Dowd are on board for Family Tree, a new doc-style comedy series for BBC Two and HBO. The eight-part half-hour comedy will be similar to other mockumentaries from Guest, such as This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show. The series will star …

LONDON: Within seven months since its launch in the U.K. and Ireland, Netflix has amassed 1 million subscribers. According to a recent survey by YouGov for Netflix, 10 percent of the U.K. population now spends two hours or more of their day watching TV shows through the Internet. Comedy and …

LONDON: Bakori Davis, formerly the VP of content distribution at Viacom Media Network, has been hired as the VP of commercial operations for A+E Networks UK, effective immediately. In the newly created position, Davis will manage channel distribution in Central and Eastern Europe, the Nordics, Greece, Benelux, Iceland, Africa, the …

LONDON: Sky has brought its NOW TV video streaming service to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 platform, where it is available starting today. The Xbox 360 version of the app delivers HD-ready video as well. Existing customers can log into the new Xbox 360 app for access to Sky’s content at no …

MUNICH: Sky Deutschland has secured a package of film rights from Tele München Group (TMG), including the exclusive TV premieres for Magic Mike, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 and more. The agreement provides Sky with the exclusive German pay-TV rights for a number of current blockbusters as well as library titles. …