Broadcasters


MTG extends Champions League rights in the Baltics

Modern Times Group has extended the broadcasting rights it holds to UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for a further three years. The rights include broadcast coverage on free-to-air TV, pay TV, mobiles and the internet until the end of the 2014/2015 championship. MTG will broadcast all Champions […]

Sky Italia and Mediaset bag Serie A rights

Italian pay TV operator Sky Italia and broadcaster Mediaset have had their bids for the broadcast rights to top football league Serie A accepted, according to various reports. Lega Calcio, the governing body of Italy’s soccer leagues, invited bids for three seasons covering 2012-2015. The new deal with News Corp’s Sky Italia will see the […]

MTG hires Patrick Svensk

Modern Times Group (MTG) has hired Partick Svensk, the former Zodiak executive who left that company following its acquisition of RDF last year. At channel operator and programmer MTG, Svensk will be vice-president, content and chairman of MTG’s Modern Studios business. He will effectively oversee all of MTG’s content businesses including production house Strix. MTG […]

Turner launches Glitz in Germany


Turner Broadcasting System is launching lifestyle and general entertainment channel Glitz in Germany. This marks the first international roll out of the channel following its successful launch across Latin America in May 2011, where it replaced the Fashion TV channel. The channel will launch on Kabel Deutschland’s pay TV platform in May 2012 and will […]

M6 seeking free DTT berth for Paris Première

French commercial broadcaster M6 wants to launch its pay TV channel Paris Première as a free-to-air service on the country’s digital-terrestrial platform. The move by M6 follows the acquisition by pay TV provider Canal Plus of Bolloré-owned channels Direct 8 and Direct Star with the aim of expanding its presence in the free-to-air market. M6 […]

BBC joins with Rai in battle over Mediaset format


The BBC has weighed into an ongoing legal case between Italian broadcasters Mediaset and Rai. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster, are joining Rai in claiming that Mediaset’s Baila! format is a copy of its own Dancing with the Stars. For its part, Mediaset says the formats are distinct and that […]

BBC Trust: BBC 4 safe from closure

Chris Patten, chairmen of the BBC Trust, has confirmed that BBC 4 will not close as part of a cost-cutting exercise that will see the British public broadcaster make 20% spending cuts over the next few years. In an interview with the Observer, Patten called rumours that the arts and culture channel faced the axe […]

Lagardère launches Christmas channel

French media company Lagardère has announced plans to launch a seasonal Christmas-themed kids channel on pay TV platform CanalSat. Targeting kids aged 3-6 years old, Père Noël will be available from November 5 until December 25. It will air cartoons including L’apprenti père Noël and Pororo, interactive games including Passe ton diplôme de Père Noël, […]

Channel 4 offers demographic ad targeting for VOD

Channel 4 is offering demographic targeting to advertisers for VOD ad campaigns. The UK broadcaster’s Future and Digital Media Ad Sales (FADMA) team are offering advertisers the opportunity to buy by demographic as well as genre, which it says is a unique approach to trading over digital platforms. Viewer data gathered by Channel 4 through […]

Discovery boss calls for light touch regulation in the UK

David Zaslav, the CEO of US-based channel operator Discovery Communications, has called upon UK authorities to favour light touch regulation so that it can continue to operate on a level playing field with its UK peers. Speaking at the RTS conference in Cambridge, Zaslav said that the company “created a lot of value” in the […]