World Screen

LONDON: The American Film Market (AFM), which is scheduled to take place November 5 to 12, has unveiled highlights for this year's Conference Series, which focuses on finance, pitching, production, marketing and distribution. The Conference Series will run from November 7 to 11. The lineup kicks off on Friday, November …

NEW YORK/SANTA MONICA: Debmar-Mercury has elevated former exec producer Alexandra Jewett from senior VP to executive VP of programming, a newly expanded role. Jewett will collaborate with Lonnie Burstein, who is staying on as executive VP of programming. She is responsible for managing all programming, development and production for the …

BURBANK: This summer sees the start of Funday, ABC Family's new monthly weekend programming event featuring fan-favorite films, including Mulan. Funday kicks off with the airing of Mulan on Saturday, August 16, at 6 p.m. Later that night, Tangled, The Little Mermaid and Pocohantas will broadcast at 8 p.m., 10 …

LOS ANGELES: Consumer spending on home entertainment rose 2 percent in Q2 year-on-year to $4.03 billion, according to the latest quarterly report from the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), led by an increase in digital sales. Total home entertainment spending for the first six months of 2014 came in at an …

EL SEGUNDO: DIRECTV has secured the rights for the BBC Three comedy Uncle, due out on the Audience Network in the U.S. this October. The series follows the misadventures of a thirtysomething man named Andy (Nick Helm) who forges an unlikely alliance with his neurotic 12-year-old nephew Erroll (Elliot Speller-Gillott). …

LONDON: The U.S. video entertainment market, which has been growing by single-digit percentage points each year, is now on track to hit an all-time high, reaching $123 billion in 2015, according to the latest industry report from Futuresource Consulting. The overall U.S. video entertainment market—comprised of subscription pay TV, box …

NEW YORK: CBS Corporation posted second-quarter earnings that were down 7 percent, impacted by softer advertising sales and lower program licensing fees. For the quarter ended June 30, CBS reported net income of $439 million, compared to $472 million in the year-ago period. Revenue was down by 5.4 percent to …

SANTA MONICA/VANCOUVER: Despite a dip in revenue, Lionsgate reported first-quarter earnings that were higher than the prior-year period. For the three months ended June 30, Lionsgate posted earnings at $43.3 million, compared to a profit of $13.6 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue, however, took a hit, …

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Director Christopher Menaul is on board the upcoming three-hour TV event Killing Jesus, produced by Scott Free Productions for National Geographic Channel. Currently in pre-production, Killing Jesus is set to debut globally on National Geographic Channel in 2015 in 171 countries and 45 languages. It will air on …

LONDON: Despite rising costs to customers and the increase of alternative online video subscription services, pay-TV subscriber numbers in the U.S. remain relatively resilient, according to informitv's Multiscreen Index. New figures show that the top ten pay-TV services in the U.S. lost 165,500 digital television customers in the second quarter, …