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PRAGUE: NATPE Europe has planned a special "Celebration of Polish TV Programming" event to take place this Wednesday in Prague, announcing as the guest of honor the director and scriptwriter Agnieszka Holland. On Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., the Cloud 9 Sky Bar and Lounge at the Hilton Prague Hotel will …

LONDON: UKTV is launching its first non-linear brand, UKTV Play, which will feature advanced previews of original commissions and acquisitions as well as box sets of hit shows from across its channel bouquet. UKTV Play will get a soft launch on iOS this summer; PC and YouView will follow by …

TORONTO: Breakthrough Entertainment has placed the movie Cas & Dylan, which stars Richard Dreyfuss, with HBO Europe. The HBO Europe deal is one of several agreements that Breakthrough shored up in Eastern Europe recently. It also licensed Boundless to Travel HD in Russia and Crime Stories to Telewizja Puls in …

PRAGUE: This morning in Prague, Rola Bauer, president and partner at Tandem Communications, was joined on stage at NATPE Europe by a number of executives from across the international production community to discuss the region's value in the co-production landscape. The title of the summit was Now, the Story Starts …

LONDON: Diane Coyle, acting chairman of the BBC Trust, outlined four "immediate priorities" for the public broadcaster in a speech yesterday, among them calling for an improvement in "the quality, variety and originality of new drama on BBC One." Coyle began her address by talking about the reach of the …

STOCKHOLM: YouSee's Mathias Berg has been lined up as the new director of channels for TV4 Group, effective August 25. Berg will be responsible for TV4 Group's linear and digital channels and platforms. He will also oversee the distribution, planning and viewer analysis/business intelligence. Berg will report to CEO Casten …

SANTA MONICA/LONDON: Lionsgate has hired two new sales directors, Mark James and Fabio Etienne-Tinchant, for the company's London office. James will handle sales for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), while Etienne-Tinchant is charged with Greece, Turkey, Africa, the Middle East, Spain and Portugal. James reports to Roberta Ibba-Hartog, Lionsgate's head …

NEW YORK: SPI International has secured carriage with the Digital Cable Group (DCG) in Switzerland for the sports channels FightBox HD and Fast&FunBox HD in the Swiss/German-speaking part of the country. FightBox HD and Fast&FunBox HD have been added by DCG to its dedicated sports package. Both SPI channels are …

PRAGUE: This afternoon in Prague, NATPE Europe held its first-ever Celebration of Polish TV Programming event, honoring Piotr Korycki, a member of the board of TVN; Andrzej Muszynski, the president of ATM Group; and Urszula Piasecka, sales director at Monolith Films, along with the celebrated filmmaker Agnieszka Holland. Rod Perth, …

PRAGUE: Today marks the end of NATPE Europe’s four-day run in its new home in Prague, following a successful market that saw more attendees, more conferences and an overall positive sentiment about the relocation to the Czech capital. Rod Perth, the president and CEO of NATPE, told World Screen Newsflash …