World Screen

BURBANK: ABC Family has appointed Salaam Coleman Smith, former president of Style Media, as the network's new executive VP of strategy and programming. Coleman Smith will work under Tom Ascheim, the president of ABC Family. Her duties include overseeing long-term growth strategies and opportunities for the channel, including key business …

NEW YORK: Time Warner has rejected a reported $80 billion takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. “21st Century Fox can confirm that we made a formal proposal to Time Warner last month to combine the two companies,” the company said. “The Time Warner Board of Directors declined to …

TORONTO: ABC remains the top "must-keep TV" channel in America, according to a survey from the Solutions Research Group (SRG), followed very closely by CBS. NBC beat out FOX to take the number three spot in the latest edition of the Must-Keep TV Report from SRG. The proportion of Americans …

LOS ANGELES: The Television Critics Association (TCA) named AMC's Breaking Bad as program of the year at its annual awards over the weekend, while Netflix's Orange Is the New Black (OITNB) was celebrated as the outstanding new program. Winners for the 30th Annual TCA Awards were selected by the association's …

PHILADELPHIA/BRISTOL: ESPN and Comcast Cable have inked a carriage deal that will see Comcast distributing the new sports-themed SEC Network to Xfinity TV customers. The channel is set to launch at the start of the Southeastern Conference collegiate football season. Both the network and its accompanying digital offerings will air …

LOS ANGELES/SUNNYVALE: Yahoo and The Weinstein Company have teamed up for the U.S. pre-theatrical release of One Chance, a film about Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts. The movie will be available exclusively on Yahoo Screen this fall. Tony- and BAFTA-winning actor James Corden stars as Potts, an amateur opera …

LOS ANGELES: Lifetime has hired a new exec to help oversee the development and production of its original movies. Tia Maggini, formerly of Josephson Entertainment, joins the network as VP of original movies. She’ll be based in Los Angeles, where she’ll report to Tanya Lopez, Lifetime’s senior VP of original …

PORT WASHINGTON: There will be some 204 million connected TV devices in use in the U.S. in 2017, twice the number of Internet households, according to market research from NPD. The 204 million includes video game consoles, streaming media players, Blu-ray Disc players and Internet-connected TV sets, NPD says in …

LOS ANGELES: From August 21 to September 1, for 24 hours a day, FXX will air nothing but The Simpsons, with 25 seasons—a whopping 552 episodes—set to air on the cable network. FXX has slated the marathon to celebrate its acquisition of the exclusive cable and authenticated non-linear VOD rights …

ATLANTA: Katz Broadcasting's over-the-air networks Escape and Grit have inked a multi-year deal with Paramount Pictures covering the broadcast rights to almost 200 feature films. Escape, targeting women 25 to 54, will be able to air titles such as The Accused, Dead Man Walking, Basic Instinct, The Hours, The Virgin …