Top Stories

LONDON: The U.K.'s digital video market—including SVOD and transactional services—is expected to generate revenues of £870 million this year, an increase of 40 percent on last year's figures, according to Futuresource Consulting. "The digital video market came of age in 2014, attracting new customers to both transactional and digital video," …

PRAGUE: The cooking format MasterChef is known around the world, and Endemol Shine International (ESI) is looking to extend the reach of the franchise even further at NATPE Europe. “The brand is already well established across the CEE region as a format, but we also have a high volume of …

PRAGUE: Two crime dramas are among the highlights being presented by Red Arrow International at this year’s NATPE Europe: Bosch and 100 Code. Based on the best-selling books by Michael Connelly, Bosch stars Titus Welliver (Lost) as a homicide detective. From Oscar winner Bobby Moresco comes 100 Code, with a …

PRAGUE: SPI International has been focused on strengthening the presence of its channel brands in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. “Our FilmBox Premium channel package is now offered by most of the major satellite platforms and cable operators in those countries,” says Berk Uziyel, the director of …

MONTE CARLO: The Golden Nymph Award winners at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival included the U.K.’s The Missing and Happy Valley, Italy’s Gomorrah and Norway’s Lilyhammer, with the U.S.’s NCIS again scoring the International Audience Award as the most-watched drama around the world. Tiger Aspect’s Marvellous swept the TV movie category, …

PARIS: Pierre Lescure, co-founder and former chief of CANAL+, has partnered with Jean-David Blanc, the founder of AlloCiné, and private-equity investors on a new online TV service that promises to "disrupt the current TV distribution offering in the coming months." The new service, Molotov, is being backed by Idinvest Partners. …

LONDON: Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has tapped Jill Offman to lead both Comedy Central and MTV in the U.K. Offman currently serves as the managing director of Comedy Central U.K. She will take up the same title for MTV U.K., leading the programming teams for both brands while overseeing …

LONDON: David Frank's Dial Square 86 is prepping the launch of The RightsXchange (TRX), a new online marketplace for the sale and acquisition of TV content rights. The new service will be led by Matthew Frank as CEO and Nigel Pickard as president, with David Frank as executive chairman. A …

AMSTERDAM/LONDON: Endemol Shine Group has unveiled its new commercial partnerships team, which brings together the Shine 360° and Endemol international commercial groups under the same banner. The new team will be managed by Branco Scherer, who is promoted to managing director of commercial partnerships. Scherer's responsibilities include identifying and investing …

LONDON: Alex Marshall has been hired as COO of Archery Pictures, a film and TV production venture launched last year by Liza Marshall and Kris Thykier. Marshall had been serving as COO of Warp Films since 2008, serving as executive producer on many of the company's productions, including Four Lions …