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LONDON: Sky 1 has landed the rights to ABC's upcoming comedy The Muppets, set to air this fall alongside a host of new British originals positioning the channel as a destination for family entertainment. The British channel says it has upped its spend on new programs by 20 percent. As …

LONDON: BBC and NRK have signed on to air the 2015 Global Citizen Festival, which is being distributed by BBC Worldwide. The hour-long special from BAFTA Award-winning screenwriter Richard Curtis features performances by big names in music, including Beyoncé, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Pearl Jam and more. It will air on …

LONDON: Films from Sony Pictures Television (SPT) are set to become available on the curated VOD service MUBI following a multiyear distribution partnership between the two companies. The deal, exclusive to the U.K. market, brings Sony films such as Taxi Driver, Closer, Punch-Drunk Love, All That Jazz, Adaptation, Dr. Strangelove, …

STOCKHOLM: MTG has increased its stake in the European multichannel network Splay from 49 percent to 81 percent. MTG acquired additional shares from the company's founders and made a direct investment in the venture, which is the leading MCN in Scandinavia and is present in Germany. Splay has 430 YouTube …

LONDON: Turner Broadcasting has named former UKTV exec Dan Fahy as its senior director of commercial development for the U.K. and Northern Europe. Fahy will work out of the company’s EMEA headquarters in London, reporting directly to Ian McDonough, the senior VP and managing director of Northern Europe. In his …

LONDON: Alex Mahon and Dawn Airey are among the industry experts tapped for an advisory group, appointed by U.K. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, to assist in the BBC Charter Review process. According to a statement from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Sport, the group "will play an important …

LONDON: In a statement issued alongside BBC's Annual Report today, Director-General Tony Hall said that the debate about the organization's future should be rooted not in "ideological arguments," but rather in the "great programs and great services" the pubcaster delivers. "When I look back at last year’s output, I see …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide says it delivered record returns to the BBC of £226.5 million ($352.5 million) for the year ended March 31, 2015, while its headline profit in the period fell by 11.9 percent to £138.6 million ($215.8 million). Its overall revenues for the year were £1 billion ($1.6 billion), …

LONDON: TalkTalk is making a special offer for new TalkTalk Plus TV homes to receive Netflix at no additional charge for six months. The exclusive deal provides new TalkTalk Plus TV customers with shows such as Breaking Bad, Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards, as well as …

LUXEMBOURG: SPI International has inked a deal with POST Luxembourg for the FilmBox brand channels to begin broadcasting on PostTV this month. The PostTV platform provides users with the Mediabox package, which features DocuBox HD, Fightbox HD, FastnFunBox HD and the adult Eroxxx HD. FilmBox Arthouse is offered as part of the …