All articles by Jennifer Green – Page 51
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Sogecable shares up 80% since IPO
Spanish audiovisual group Sogecable's shares have gained in value by more than 80% after one year on the Spanish stock exchange.Closing share price on Friday was Euros43.02, up from Euros23.50 at the launch of Sogecable's initial public offer one year ago. Sogecable has trailed Telefonica internet subsidiary Terra this year ...
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Telefonica completes Endemol buy-out
Spain's Telefonica has successfully completed its share-for-share buy-out of Dutch entertainment group Endemol with the acquisition of 97.4% of Endemol's shares.Telefonica had set 75% as the minimum amount of shares exchanged for the acquisition to be accepted.The public offer, which valued Endemol at Euros4.79bn, ran from July 3 through 24. ...
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Canal Plus Spain tunes into TV film sector
Canal Plus has finally made its definitive move into made-for-TV feature production in Spain, striking a four-year accord with regional network Television de Galicia (TVG).The partners, which collaborated last year on TV movie La Rosa De Piedra, are to co-produce TV movies, documentaries, fiction series and short films. According to ...
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San Sebastian confirms Galan exit
The San Sebastian International Film Festival today confirmed the departure of festival director Diego Galan (Screendaily, July 18). He will be replaced in 2001 by Mikel Olaciregui, currently sub-director of the event.Galan, who steps down for personal reasons, has helmed the festival since 1995 and between 1985 and 1989. Between ...
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Barroso, Hayek to fly with Butterflies
Up-and-coming Spanish director Mariano Barroso has reportedly been signed on by MGM and Showtime to shoot his first English-language film, In The Time Of The Butterflies, with actress Salma Hayek in the lead.Showtime and MGM are co-producing the $10m project, which is scheduled to start production in Mexico in September. ...
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Galan expected to quit San Sebastian
Diego Galan, the popular head of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, plans to leave his post in January 2001, to be replaced by the festival's number two, Mikel Olaciregui, according to Spanish press reports.Sources at the festival would neither confirm nor deny the reports, which said that Galan is ...
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Telefonica denies Villalonga resignation
Telefonica has denied reports in the Spanish press on Friday that chairman Juan Villalonga has agreed to resign over an insider trading scandal. However further reports in the local and international press over the weekend have added heat to the rumour. Grupo Prisa-owned financial newspaper Cinco Dias reported Friday that ...
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Spanish production surges as b.o. reaches new high
The Spanish film sector had one of its strongest years in over a decade in 1999 according to Spanish producers association FAPAE's annual report. Spain produced 82 features during the year - the second highest number in 15 years. Of these, 74 obtained theatrical distribution, the second highest level in ...
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Telecinco inks distribution pact with Buena Vista
Spanish broadcaster Telecinco has signed a ground-breaking distribution deal with Buena Vista International Spain (BVIS), which gives the expanding channel theatrical and video outlets for its independently acquired films.The deal follows Telecinco's landmark entry into all-rights acquisitions this May with the signing of a five-year, 10-picture pact with US indie ...
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Spain's Ono to pump $1.7bn into expanding network
Spain's nascent cable industry is set for a major tranche of investment as local cable operator Ono (Cableuropa) has unveiled plans to invest $1.7bn (PTS300,000m) over the next five years to expand its broadband network into new regions of Spain.The company, which said it plans to build "one of the ...
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ICAA hands out $2.6m to
Spain's government-backed Institute for Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) has unveiled its latest round of funding for new directors and "experimental works of distinct artistic and cultural content."Some 14 projects will share funds worth a total of $2.6m (PTS450m). The projects include seven feature films, one animated film, one "experimental" ...
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Media Park woos US, European majors
Spanish content producer and packager Media Park has initiated talks with "various American and European majors" to find a new international shareholder before the end of the year.Sources at Media Park say the talks form part of a two-fold strategy to collaborate with majors on TV channels for the ...
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Sogecable taps Campo as assistant general director
Spanish multimedia group Sogecable has appointed Ignacio Campo as assistant general director.A Harvard-trained economist, Campo, 38, has worked with companies such as General Motors, Grupo Transafrica and Ocean Group PLC. He will work alongside Sogecable general director Carlos Abad.In addition, Melcior Soler has been appointed general director of Sogecable's sports ...
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Sogecable relaunches script development programme
Spanish media group Sogecable has relaunched its script development programme, Canal Plus Guiones (Canal Plus Scripts). The refurbished, four-year-old programme aims to help as many as 40 new and up-and-coming scriptwriters develop feature film and TV movie script ideas over the next three years on a combined budget of $400,000 ...
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Gonzalez Quiros confirmed as head of Spain's ICAA
Confirming weeks of rumours, Spain's Minister for Education, Culture and Sports, Pilar del Castillo, announced yesterday that Jose Luis Gonzalez Quiros will replace Jose Maria Otero as the new general director for the country's cinema institute, ICAA (Instituto de la Cinematografia y las Artes Audiovisuales).Sources at the Ministry confirm that ...
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Applicants line up for Spain's new DTT licences
Yesterday (July 3) marked the deadline for applications for the two new free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) licences to be awarded by the Spanish government before November 30.The Ministry of Science and Technology had postponed the deadline by a month, ostensibly to motivate competitors to form joint consortia. They didn't: ...
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Media Park acquires minority stake in Horizonte
Barcelona-based content packager Media Park has taken a 3% stake in Horizonte Digital, a consortium applying for one of two new free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) licences to be awarded by the Spanish government in November.Media Park's participation in Horizonte Digital gives Telefonica, which recently bought out 25% of the ...
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Telefonica makes formal Endemol bid
Spanish telecommunications and media powerhouse Telefonica has launched its anticipated public offer to buy out Dutch entertainment giant Endemol. The offer, which runs from July 3-24, values Endemol at Euros4.79bn.The Spanish company has had to pay a high price to complete the buy-out, thanks to a fall in share value ...
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Villalonga retains position despite investigation
Telefonica president Juan Villalonga emerged from a critical board meeting yesterday (June 28) with his position intact, despite an ongoing investigation into accusations that he benefited from insider information when he purchased options for shares of Telefonica in January, 1998.There was speculation that Telefonica's key shareholders, banks BBVA and La ...
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Prisa up 18% after first day's trading
Spanish multimedia conglomerate Grupo Prisa - which took a risk on a volatile stock market by floating 20% of its shares yesterday (June 28) - came out a winner with a revaluation of its shares by 18.32% to Euros24.61 at day's end on the Bolsa, the Spanish stock exchange.Prisa's IPO ...