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LONDON: Angela Neillis has been hired as the first head of acquisitions for Sky Vision—a new distribution company formed by BSkyB and Parthenon Media Group—which is looking to acquire drama and comedy programming. Prior to her appointment at Sky Vision, Neillis was a commercial manager at BBC Worldwide, where she …

PREMIUM: Half of the Top 100 programs in the ratings on French television in 2012 were episodes of American dramatic series. A handful of Hollywood shows, led by The Mentalist, took 48 of the top 100 largest audiences of the year. Only two episodes of French fiction series appear in the …

PARIS: Tim Hincks, the president of Endemol, has been lined up for a keynote speech as part of MIPTV’s Media Mastermind series. In his speech, set for Monday, April 8, Hincks will touch on how creativity is affected by the changes taking place in the industry. Hincks, who has been …

PARIS: Orange Cinéma Series (OCS) has renewed its content agreement with HBO, giving it exclusive rights to shows such as Girls and Game of Thrones for France. The deal, which has been in place since 2008, allows Orange to carry HBO programs on its Orange Cinema Series (OCS) package, which …

LONDON: Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment has set up the new indie production house Over The Top Productions, led by the company’s global head of television, Nigel Hall. Hall has been with Syco for nine years, and was instrumental in the development of such entertainment hits as The X Factor and …

HILVERSUM: Mark Ramakers, the chief financial officer of Talpa Holding, is leaving the company. Ramakers, who is on the board of the Talpa Media Group, will officially resign as CFO once the company has pinpointed someone to replace him. Having spent more than 15 years holding financial and management positions, mainly …

UNTERFÖHRING: News Corporation has raised its holding in Sky Deutschland from 49.9 percent to 54.4 percent, following a 348 million euros ($464 million) transaction for new Sky shares. Also as part of the deal, News Corp. will guarantee certain rights payments associated with Sky Deutschland’s Bundesliga broadcasting license and support …

ROME: Discovery Communications has purchased Switchover Media, which operates five networks in Italy. Switchover operates four free-to-air channels and one pay-TV network. The assets are the children’s channels K2 and Frisbee, the male-skewed GXT, the scripted crime network Giallo and factual channel Focus. Discovery currently operates two free DTT stations in Italy, …

LONDON: ITV has officially rebranded across all five of its U.K. channels, its six ITV Studios production offices and its distribution arm, ITV Studios Global Entertainment. The new brand identity is live across its main channels in the U.K. as well as online and on-demand products, including ITV Player. ITV Studios Global Entertainment and …

ENGLEWOOD: Liberty Global is set to hold approximately 58.4 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of Telenet. Previously, Liberty Global had offered 35 euros ($45.35) per share for the remaining stake in Telenet Group Holding. The Belgian telecom company had rejected the $2.5 billion offer, saying that it was …