All News articles – Page 5201
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BBC, BSkyB get development approval
The Independent Television Commission has given the go-ahead for BSkyB to offer a full range of multichannel TV service over networks in Britain, on top of its existing digital satellite service. BskyB's arrival into the UK TV market will significantly increase existing competition between existing operators like ITV Digital, owned ...
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Two Spanish festivals announce programmes
The Gijon International Film Festival (Nov 23-30) and the Valencia Mediterranean Film Showcase (Oct 18-25) have both unveiled the first details of their forthcoming editions.Continuing its focus on international independent cinema, Gijon is planning retrospectives of Spanish director Jose Luis Guerin, New York filmmaker Richard Kern and Japanese director Seijun ...
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Mediaset posts first half profit dip of 3.3%
Mediaset, the leading private Italian broadcaster founded by Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, has posted first half losses in gross profits of 3.3% to Euros 450.3m. The company's consolidated balance, however, was up 6% to Euros 500.3m, with total turnover rising 6.5% to Euros 1.37 billion.Meanwhile, the broadcaster posted record audience ...
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Spain's Ensueno reveals grand co-production plans
Ensueno Films, the fledgling film division of Spanish free-to-air broadcaster Antena 3 Television, has confirmed plans to co-produce as many as ten feature films per year.So far this year, the company, which launched in November 2000, says it has invested more than $27.6m (pts 5,100m) in the co-production or acquisition ...
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Mueller prepares international production slate
Marco Mueller, producer of Babak Payami's Venice prize winner Secret Ballot and executive producer of Sarajevo winner and Cannes favourite No Man's Land, says he will soon start producing Italian feature films in addition to lining up South American and African titles for the production slate that will launch his ...
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Stars cancel San Sebastian appearances
Julie Andrews, who was scheduled to receive the Donostia Award at this year' s San Sebastian International Film Festival, has cancelled her trip to Spain "in light of the recent events" in New York and Washington. The festival, which begins next Thursday and runs through September 29, issued a statement ...
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...as European merger & acquisition activity dives
Merger and acquisitions (m&a) activity in Europe's media sector boomed during 2000, but is set to halve in the current year, being replaced by traditional alliances and joint-ventures. A new report from the corporate finance arm of accounting giant Andersen says that consolidation between firms and convergence of old and ...
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Italy's Telepiu and Stream merger threatened
Italy's antitrust watchdog has cast a deep shadow over the planned merger of Italian cable TV giants, Telepiu and Stream. Despite widespread industry confidence that the merger would receive swift regulatory approval, the antitrust authority has opened an investigation into the deal which had been agreed by the pay-TV groups' ...
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Lions Gate buys domestic on Lovely & Amazing
Lions Gate Films has bought North American theatrical distribution rights to Nicole Holofcener's Lovely & Amazing which screened yesterday at the Toronto International Film Festival - although its scheduled premiere screening on Tuesday was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks in the US. The film was first seen at the ...
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Entertainment takes Gosford Park for the UK
Leading UK independent distributor Entertainment Film Distributors has picked up Robert Altman's Gosford Park. Entertainment is expected to release the 1930s murder-mystery film in the first quarter of next year. USA Films, which took the film as a negative pick-up, is to open it in December in the US in ...
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Ledger may be in Our Sunshine
Heath Ledger is in negotiations to star in Our Sunshine, based on Robert Drew's 1991 book about the infamous Australian bush ranger Ned Kelly. Working Title is attached to the project, which is being produced by LA-based Australian Nelson Woss. Other projects on Kelly that are in the pipeline include ...
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44 European films compete for top EFA award
Bridget Jones's Diary, Intimacy, No Man's Land, Italian for Beginners and The Princess And The Warrior are among 44 European films selected for consideration by the 1,300 members of the European Film Academy (EFA) for the nominations in the category of "European Film 2001" at this year's European Film Awards, ...
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French TV sales get boost from feature films
Foreign sales of French television programmes leapt by 13.4% last year to reach $117.2m (Ffr848m), according to a survey commissioned by French exporters' association TV France International. Including the sales of foreign television programming $25.6m (Ffr185m) and of TV rights to French and foreign feature films $86.8m (Ffr628m) handled by ...
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Buena Vista Spain commits to local co-productions
Buena Vista International Spain (BVIS) has committed to co-producing two to three local feature films per year, according to BVIS general manager Javier Vasallo.The company had its first taste of the market last year with Spanish-Argentine co-production Clams And Mussels (Almejas Y Mejillones), which was among the 12 top grossing ...
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South Korea begins construction of film studio
The South Korean port city of Busan (formerly known as Pusan) has begun construction of an indoor film studio in a bid to attract local and overseas film crews to shoot in the city. Set to be unveiled during the 2001 Pusan International Film Festival in November, the studio ...
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Global media industry reacts to terror attack
Terrorist attacks in the US on Tuesday threw into sharp relief the relevance of the entertainment industry. As the tragedy unfolded, US studios, cinemas and TV networks shut down for the day. The Emmy TV awards were postponed and the Latin Grammy awards cancelled. Even Walt Disney World in Florida ...
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Cartoon D'Or animated shorts nominations
Five European animated shorts have been nominated for this year's Cartoon D'Or Award which will presented in a gala ceremony at the end of the Cartoon Forum co-production market in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on September 22.The nominated shorts are: Au Premier Dimanche D'Aout by Florence Miailhe, (France),Chicken Kiev by Thomas Stellmach (Germany), ...
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Latest updated Venice film festival deals
Hundstage, the debut film by Austrian director Ulrich Seidl which sharply divided critics at the Venice film festival, has proved a hot seller for producer and sales agent The Co-Production Office.The picture was sold to Mikado for Italy, Les Films Seville for Canada, Film Museum for The Netherlands, Filmladen for ...
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Blockbuster to replace video with DVD
Blockbuster, the world's largest home video rental chain, has announced a decisive move to replace video cassettes with DVDs throughout its global network of outlets.Blockbuster chairman John Antioco said the company plans to discard 25% of its stock of video tapes to make room for the growing number of DVD ...
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Eleven feature debuts compete for tesafilm award
The UK's Dom Rotheroe, Brazil's Lais Bodanzky, Denmark's Anders Thomas Jensen and the USA's Michael Cuesta are among eleven first-time filmmakers invited by the Filmfest Hamburg to show their feature debuts in its tesafilm Festival sidebar and compete for the $13,975 (DM 30,000) "Golden tesafilm Reel".Established in 1999 with financial ...