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LOS ANGELES: NATPE PitchCon returns to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on June 7 and 8, during which time Oxygen’s The Glee Project will be honored with this year’s Innovator Award. The event, previously known as LATV Fest and now in its second year under the PitchCon banner, will deliver speakers, …

BURBANK: Music superstars Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles, Lionel Richie and Robin Thicke are on board for the new singing competition Duets, slated for ABC’s summer lineup. Duets will feature the four music stars going out across America to look for undiscovered talent worthy of being their protégés. Each musician will …

LOS ANGELES: Several appointments have been made at MarVista Entertainment, including Susan Young being tapped to serve as the chief financial officer. Young will report directly to Fernando Szew, the company’s CEO. She will be responsible for the administrative, financial and risk-management operations for MarVista, and will also been involved …

NEW YORK: RHI Entertainment has five new action-packed mini-series to offer in one collection, under the Disaster Pack V.1 banner, alongside titles such as King Tut for MIPTV.  The Disaster Pack V.1 collection includes Category 8, in which a super firestorm is hurling toward Earth; Eve of Destruction, which watches …

NEW YORK: Comedy Central has greenlit The Burn, set to premiere this summer, and two other new original series slated for 2013. Review with Forrest MacNeil, starring Andrew Daly (Eastbound & Down), and Nathan For You, starring Canadian writer-comedian Nathan Fielder (Jon Benjamin Has a Van), have been greenlit by …

BURBANK: The syndicated daily newsmagazine show America Now, co-hosted by Leeza Gibbons and Bill Rancic, from ITV Studios America and Raycom Media has been renewed for a third season. The series, which airs weekdays in 45 markets, ranks among the top first-run syndicated shows premiering this past fall, second only …

NEW YORK: The total advertising spending in the U.S. increased 0.8 percent last year, finishing 2011 at $144 billion, according to new data from Kantar Media. Aspend in Q4 dropped 1 percent compared to the prior year period, marking the first quarterly decline since the end of 2009. Television continued …

NEW YORK: This summer, Bravo is to launch the new Facebook game The Real Housewives: The Game, coinciding with the debut of the fifth season of The Real Housewives of New York City. The Real Housewives: The Game lets players create a unique identity, interact with their favorite Housewives and …

BEVERLY HILLS: Vuguru is partnering with Yahoo! to develop original scripted series for exclusive U.S. distribution on the online destination Yahoo! Screen. Yahoo! Will work with Vuguru to develop original premium digital series. Larry Tanz, the CEO of Vuguru, and Erin McPherson, the VP and head of video programming and …

NEW YORK: Mexican communications billionaire Carlos Slim is backing a new digital television venture, Ora.TV, joined by news legend Larry King as co-founder of the network. Ora.TV is funded by América Móvil, the leading Latin American wireless service provider that is controlled by Slim. The venture will create high-quality video …