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COLOGNE: Brainpool is bringing its cult comedy hit Stromberg to the big screen, after raising 1 million euros in fan funding for the financing of the film. Stromberg has aired for five seasons on ProSieben. It will now get a film adaptation, Stromberg: The Film, which will hit theaters on …

LONDON: Steve Macallister, formerly the president and managing director of BBC Worldwide's sales and distribution division, is taking on the role of CEO of Zodiak Rights, succeeding Matthew Frank, who is stepping down after 20 years. Macallister takes on the role as of January 13. He joins from BBC Worldwide, …

BRUSSELS: The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation to look at the provisions in the licensing agreements between a number of U.S. studios and European pay-TV broadcasters. The broadcasters involved in the probe are BSkyB in the U.K., Sky Italia in Italy, Canal+ in France, Sky Deutschland in Germany …

WARSAW: Christian Anting has been appointed to the newly created role of chief strategy officer and managing director of international distribution for Poland's TVN, effective immediately. Anting will be responsible for all strategic development, with a focus on retail and subscription-based services, e-commerce activities and nonfiction linear and non-linear exploitation. …

LOS ANGELES/ROME: In June 2014, SDI Media is set to open a new custom-designed, full service dubbing facility in Rome. The company has already hired employees for SDI Media Rome, which has begun production in the historical Il Messaggero newspaper building in the center of the city. The studios will …

LONDON: Shine TV has named Tanya Shaw as the company's creative director, effective in the spring. Shaw will report to Kelly Webb-Lamb, the managing director of Shine TV. She will be responsible for supervising the company's existing developments while increasing its catalogue of factual programming, including factual entertainment formats, features …

LONDON: TCB Media Rights has hired a new head of sales, Karen Connell, who joins in February from Beyond Distribution. For the last three years, Connell has been serving as VP of sales at Beyond Distribution. At TCB, she assumes the role of head of sales for Nordic, Benelux and …

LONDON: Karl Warner, formerly the BBC's commissioning editor for entertainment, and Sony Pictures Television (SPT) are launching Electric Ray, a new production company based in the U.K. Warner will serve as managing director of the new venture. He has recruited a development team for Electric Ray that will be led …

LONDON: More than 40 brands are on board for Sky's new tailored advertising service Sky AdSmart, which is now live following a six-month trial. Sky AdSmart, which is available in more than a fifth of U.K. households, tailors what is shown in TV ad breaks according to a household’s profile …

BERLIN/MAINZ: ZDF Enterprises has signed a two-year contract with the SVOD platform WATCHEVER for on-demand streaming of titles from its catalogue. This brings to the service the detective series Kriminaldauerdienst (KDD), as well as the Danish/Swedish/German detective show Bron/Broen (The Bridge) and the historical drama Krupp: Ein deutsche Familie (Krupp: …