Top Stories

LONDON: The U.K.’s ITV has given the go-ahead to a second season of its hit comedy revival Birds of a Feather, scheduled to start filming later this year. Elaine Bedell, the network’s director of comedy and entertainment, and Myfanwy Moore, the comedy commissioning editor, ordered the series from QuirkyMedia Stuff …

LOS ANGELES: Last week's fourth edition of DISCOP Istanbul, organized by Basic Lead, saw attendee figures increase by a record-breaking 33 percent. The three-day event, which moved to the International Convention & Exhibition Center, attracted 1,048 delegates. There was a 52-percent rise in the number of qualified buyers attending. Sixty-seven …

LONDON: British distributor Power has sold more than 50 hours of mystery programming to Tricolor TV, Russia’s largest satellite-TV operator. The deal was for a package of crime films taken from Power’s TV movie catalogue. This includes nine Mystery Woman titles, a series of films starring Kellie Martin as the …

LONDON: The BBC has launched the latest version of its VOD iPlayer, which has been redesigned from the ground up and has a slew of new content. BBC iPlayer has a new look and feel, designed to make finding content simpler, discovering content easier and allows more options for curation …

PARIS: Gaspard de Chavagnac has been appointed CEO of Zodiak France. In this new role, de Chavagnac will spearhead the French division of Zodiak Media and coordinate the development and the production activities. He will be working alongside the managing directors of Zodiak’s French production companies. De Chavagnac is the …

LONDON/MADRID: Francisco Asensi has become the managing director of Endemol beyond Spain. Asensi will oversee and accelerate the expansion of digital video business initiatives within Endemol Spain. This includes entertainment network Tuiwok Studios, which launched on YouTube and now counts over 65 premium channels with over 40 million monthly views. …

PARIS: Five startups have been selected to pitch to a jury of TV decision-makers from companies such as A+E Networks, Sony Pictures Television, RTL Group, France Télévisions and all3media international at this year's MIPCube Lab. On April 7, these five selected startups will pitch to the jury. The selected finalists …

STOCKHOLM: Magine, the cloud-based TV service, has appointed Kamal Bherwani as its new chairman just as the company readies itself for more international expansion. Bherwani has been a Magine board member since September of last year. The service launched commercially in Sweden last March. He previously worked as the chief digital officer and …

MUNICH: WWE has signed a multiyear agreement with TELE 5 to bring Monday Night Raw back to free television in Germany starting next month. Monday Night Raw will begin airing on TELE 5 on April 10. The 2-hour version of the show will broadcast everything Thursday at 10:15 p.m. "Monday …

LONDON: FremantleMedia International is offering buyers a mix of dramas, documentaries, scripted entertainment, lifestyle offerings and classic Brit comedies at this year’s MIPTV. On the scripted front, there’s the 3×60-minute miniseries Jamaica Inn, an adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel produced by Origin Pictures for BBC One. Dicte (20×60 …