Mansha Daswani

LOS ANGELES: Former Electus International executive Cyrus Farrokh has been enlisted to lead the new international division at Propagate, the studio helmed by Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens.

LOS ANGELES: Otter Media, the joint venture formed by The Chernin Group and AT&T, has set up a cross-platform female-driven content company with Reese Witherspoon.

LOS ANGELES: Gunpowder & Sky, the global content studio co-founded by ex-Viacom exec Van Toffler, has launched a multiplatform destination devoted to "binge-watchable sci-fi."

ATLANTA: Bounce TV has launched Brown Sugar, a new streaming service delivering a library of iconic African-American movies like Foxy Brown and Shaft for a monthly fee of $3.99.

SILVER SPRING: Atlanta-based outfit Swirl Films will exclusively produce original movies and scripted series for TV One as part of a new multiyear deal with the network.

LOS ANGELES: Sonar Entertainment has entered into a first-look deal with the production company founded by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey.

LOS ANGELES: The lineup of new original programming for Fullscreen's SVOD platform includes The Deleted, written and directed by Bret Easton Ellis, the author of American Psycho.

Brands will spend $139.2 million to sponsor televised awards shows this year, according to research from IEG, a 4.3 percent increase on last year's tally. The increase exceeds the projected 4.2 percent increase in entertainment spending, but is behind the 4.5 percent increase in overall North American sponsorship spending, IEG notes.

NEW YORK: AMC Networks has taken a minority stake in Funny Or Die and is planning for its IFC network to step up its collaboration with the popular comedy brand.

LOS ANGELES: Amazon Prime has added hundreds of award-winning foreign films to its U.S. lineup following a deal with Eurocinema World.