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MUNICH: Stefan Oelze, former MME Moviement executive board member and filmpool managing director, has partnered with Beta Film to launch Seapoint Productions, a Cologne-based production outfit. Oelze was prevsioulsy the chief creative officer of MME Moviement, and managing director of both its subsidiaries filmpool and Tower Productions. Before that he …

LONDON: Home entertainment revenues in the U.K. rose 4 percent in 2013, marking the first increase in five years, driven by booming subscription sales from so-called "access services" such as Netflix and Spotify. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) Yearbook reveals that Internet-derived sales (including home delivery, digital download and streaming …

UNTERFÖHRING: The ProSiebenSat.1 Group and WWE have agreed to a comprehensive long-term rights deal for free TV, pay TV and online platforms in Germany and Austria. The agreement includes all WWE pay-per-view programming on maxdome as well as weekly episodes of SmackDown on ProSieben MAXX free TV and Monday Night …

PARIS: A number of producers and broadcasters are set to participate in the 4K spotlight program at MIPTV 2014. The MIPTV 4K Ultra-HD program, created in partnership with Sony Corporation and sponsored by SES Astra, will run across the four days of MIPTV and represents the world’s first showcase of …

LONDON: 3 Rivers, a Dutch management consultancy, has hired the veteran TV executive Beata Hegedus to lead its new U.K. office. Hegedus joins 3 Rivers from Viasat Broadcasting U.K., where she served as VP of formats and entertainment. Prior to Viasat, Hegedus established and managed Debmar-Mercury International. 3 Rivers’ partner …

MOSCOW: There were approximately 650 TV series and TV films at different production stages in Russia in 2013, according to KVG Research, which reports that detective, melodrama and drama were the most popular television genres. Channel One, Russia 1 and NTV accounted for more than 60 percent of all projects. …

LONDON: Channel 5 is moving forward with its original crime drama Suspects, which will return this fall with new episodes and has been re-commissioned for 2015. The unscripted drama features actors improvising the dialogue from a story line. The series adopts filming techniques and a directorial approach that is typically …

PARIS: Laurent Saillard has become CEO of Zodiak Media’s Russian division, Zodiak Vostok. Saillard's appointment follows on the departure of Gennadij Kaganovitj, former CEO of the Russian division, on October 30, 2013. Saillard has served stints with Endemol, Banijay and Ren TV. Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, the CEO of Zodiak Media, said: …

PARIS: The TF1 group, which is the exclusive French rights holder for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, has sub-licensed to BeIN SPORTS the live broadcast rights for all 64 matches in the competition, 36 of which will be exclusive. TF1 will transmit the top 28 matches exclusively on its free-to-air …

PARIS: The CANAL+ Group is launching the Social Player, a video and social platform in one that is based on the user's profile, community of friends and preferences. The Social Player allows users to create their own channel based on their favorite shows, as well as videos posted on friends' …