All articles by Staff writers – Page 12
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Rotterdam ups den Hamer to co-director post
Sandra den Hamer has been promoted to the position of co-director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, alongside current director Simon Field.Den Hamer, who was formerly deputy director at the festival, is expected to focus on the administrative side of the operation as well as its Hubert Bals Fund for ...
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AtomFilms taps Shields to head European expansion
AtomFilms has appointed Mikael Shields to the newly created post of senior vice president of entertainment - Europe, based at the company's European headquarters in London.Shields will oversee all acquisitions and development of entertainment properties for the Seattle-based internet company, negotiating and managing co-productions and content partnerships across Europe.Shields is ...
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Endemol sells stake in Spanish internet portal
Dutch production outfit Endemol Entertainment is to sell its 25% stake in Spanish-language internet portal Telepolis.com to one of the company's major shareholders.In a statement, the company said that following its acquisition by Spanish telecoms and multimedia giant Telefonica, the "synergy benefits of a stake in a company like Telepolis ...
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Tykwer makes it twice with Sony Classics
Run Lola Run filmmaker Tom Tykwer's latest film, The Princess And The Warrior, has been picked up Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) for North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. Although Miramax Films has a first-look deal with Tykwer's and producer partner Stefan Arndt's X-Filme, the New York mini-major apparently ...
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Winstar acquires US rights to A One And A Two
New York-based Winstar Communications has acquired North American rights to Edward Yang's A One And A Two (Yi Yi), which picked up the best director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.Winstar plans to release the picture, which follows three generations of a middle-class Taiwanese family, in October following a ...
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Murdoch lines up Sky Global partners
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is reportedly close to acquiring a minority stake in Kirch Media, raising speculation that the German media giant will in turn become a shareholder in Murdoch's proposed international pay-TV platform Sky Global Networks. Telecom Italia may also take a stake in Sky Global in return for ...
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De Mol to remain Endemol chairman and CEO
Endemol Entertainment chief John de Mol has decided to remain chairman and CEO of the Dutch production outfit alongside his new position as chief creative officer (CCO).De Mol said he would step down from his position as chairman to concentrate on the creative side of Endemol's business when Spanish telecoms ...
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Crown Media launches Hallmark in Israel
The US' Crown Media Holdings has launched 24-hour movie channel Hallmark Entertainment Network in Israel in partnership with local cablers Matav, Tevel and Golden Channels.Israel's first digital satellite service Yes, set to launch this month, will also carry the channel. Following its launch on Yes, the channel will reach an ...
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Locarno president Buffi dies suddenly
Giuseppe Buffi, president of the Locarno International Film Festival and head of the local state government, has died of a heart attack. He was due to open this year's Locarno on August 2.Buffi, 62, died at the wheel of his car near Venice on Thursday according to authorities. He had ...
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Vivendi, Seagram file merger for EC approval
Vivendi, Canal Plus and Seagram have filed their planned merger for European Commission (EC) approval, an EC spokesperson confirmed today.The EC has until August 21 to clear the deal or launch an in-depth four-month investigation. The EC previously insisted that it has exclusive powers to review the merger, in response ...
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EC greenlights Telefonica's Endemol buy-out
The European Commission has waved through Spanish telco Telefonica's proposed takeover of Dutch production company Endemol Entertainment which made headlines across Europe when it was first unveiled in March (Screendaily, March 20)."Although this operation will integrate Telefonica into the upstream market of production of TV programmes, it will not result ...
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Messier threatens to veto Sky Global deal
Vivendi chief Jean-Marie Messier is threatening not to contribute his 20% stake in UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB to Rupert Murdoch's planned digital distribution company Sky Global Networks, according to French reports.Messier is understood to have told analysts that he would not sell his BSkyB stake unless he secures an active ...
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Canal Plus shareholders oppose merger terms
ADAM, a group of activists which lobby on behalf of minority shareholder rights in France, says it will oppose the three-way merger of Canal Plus, Vivendi and Seagram.The group's chairman, Colette Neuville, said the group would seek to ensure that a rule obliging Vivendi to make a full public offer ...
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Shareholders back AOL, Time Warner merger
America Online's merger with Time Warner took a step towards completion this autumn after shareholders at both companies voted on Friday in favour of the mega-deal.AOL shareholders voted 97% in favour of the $123 billion merger, according to a preliminary count. Earlier in the day, Time Warner's shareholders approved the ...
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Mechanic quits Fox
Bill Mechanic, the veteran chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment who backed Titanic, has quit.Mechanic resigned late on Thursday to form his own movie production company."The studio is in excellent shape with a strong summer line-up and terrific product into next summer, and so I feel now is the time to ...
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BT on the look-out for content companies
UK telco British Telecommunications (BT) is mulling the possibility of acquiring media companies to supply its proposed broadband services, according to a report on Reuters.According to Marc Deschamps, COO for BT's broadband internet outfit Openworld, the company is open to deals on the same scale as this year's high-profile content-carrier ...
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Baker quits COO post at USA Networks
Barry Baker has resigned from his post as president and COO of USA Networks. Baker joined the company in January 1999 to pull together its diverse assets, but said the time had come for him to run a company of his own.USA chairman and CEO Barry Diller stressed that ...
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Phoenix schedules float to fund expansion drive
Chinese-language broadcaster Phoenix Satellite Television aims to raise up to $120m (HK$938m) from an initial public offering to fund ambitious expansion plans including the launch of three new channels, a new production base and an internet portal.The company has set a June 30 date to float on Hong Kong's Growth ...
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EM.TV completes Formula 1 offering
German TV and rights group EM.TV & Merchandising has completed the secondary share offering it launched in connection with the acqusition of a 50% interest in Formula 1 (F1).EM.TV completed the move by finalising a private placement of 2.5m shares. Florian Haffa, EM.TV's deputy chief execuive officer, said in a ...
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Karlovy Vary to feature Big Animal premiere
Highlights in the international competition section for the 35th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 5-15) include the world premiere of Big Animal, directed by well-known Polish actor Jerzy Stuhr from the first script by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski.Other world premieres at the leading film event in ...