All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 41
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Polish media giant postpones major floatation
ITI, the giant Polish media concern today (3 July) postponed its share flotation on the Warsaw stock exchange. It blamed difficult stock-market conditions."Despite the good reception of the offering and high interest in ITI, extremely difficult market conditions, both in Poland and abroad led us to decide to postpone the ...
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Vivendi shares plummet amid accountancy queries
Vivendi Universal shares crashed today (July 2) as the company became the latest to be tinged by questions over its accountancy policies.At 1215 GMT today the shares were down 35% at Euros15.53 having been suspended four times by stockmarket regulator, the COB, which limits violent price movements. The shares had ...
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China Central Television launches English-language channel
State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) used president Zhang Zemin's visit to Hong Kong to mark the fifth anniversary of the territory's handover to China to launch its English-language channel CCTV-9 on Hong Kong Cable. The launch, which takes place today (July 1), was announced at a high profile launch ...
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AMW announces Lord Of The Rainy Season as Franco-Thai co-production
AMW International, an independent Thai media group, used Hong Kong's FilMart to launch its new film Lord Of The Rainy Season. The project is based on Claire Keefe-Fox's historical novel of the same title Le Ministre Des Moussons documenting France's first official foray into Asia and the meeting between explorer ...
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Singapore's Raintree strikes joint production deal with Media Asia
Singapore's Raintree Pictures is planning a substantial production expansion after signing a deal with Hong Kong major Media Asia.The deal sees the two companies agree to jointly produce between four and six films per year. Production costs will be equally shared. "It resembles a first look deal, but with a ...
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Vivendi prepares to sell set-top box maker
Vivendi Universal is expected to put its Canal Plus Technologies (CPT) unit up for sale in the latest debt debt-reduction move.The business, which produces software for pay-TV encryption and interactive broadcasting and set-top boxes for Canal Plus' channels, is valued at between Euros500m and Euros1bn. That could mean Vivendi's debt ...
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Vivendi liquidates environment assets
In another bid to cut its debt and raise its status with the financial community, Vivendi Universal is to sell 15% of Vivendi Environnement.The move should cut its stake to 40% and raise up to $1.9bn (Euros 2bn), but the company did not publish a timetable for the disposal saying ...
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Canal Plus, Telenor settle long-running dispute
Canal Plus Group and Telenor have finally settled their dispute and will now proceed with the deal that sees Nordic pay-TV platform Canal Digital sold to the Norwegian telecoms group.The definitive agreement signed last week (June 14) sees Canal Plus sell its 50% stake to its partner Telenor for a ...
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Gilles Jacob decides against Canal Plus appointment
Cannes Festival head, Gilles Jacob has decided not to join Canal Plus' supervisory board as had been announced earlier this week (Screendaily, June 10). The decision was taken by Jacob after a specially-called meeting of the Cannes Festival's administrative board. The board did not rule out his joining Canal ...
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Bac Majestic to seek $12.2m cash lifeline
Bac Majestic, arguably France's most admired distribution group, is to raise $12.3m (Euros13m) in a bid for survival.In a statement to the Paris stock-market yesterday, Bac revealed that it has teamed up with an unnamed "European investor" with a view to "rebuilding its equity capital". The company, which put out ...
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Village Roadshow stock continues to tumble
Shares in Village Roadshow continued to dive following an announcement last Friday that it would suspend payment of its stock dividend.At the close of trading on Tuesday (June 11) the shares stood at A$1.17, down 32% compared with their A$1.72 prior to the announcement. In a statement the company said ...
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Piano Teacher is cleared for release in Singapore
The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste), which scooped a trio of prizes at last year's Cannes festival, has finally been cleared for release in censorious Singapore.The film, produced and sold internationally by France's MK2, is a study of sexual desperation and involves scenes of frenzied grappling and female self-mutilation. But the ...
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RTL Belgium signs BVI output deal
RTL-TVI, the Belgian free-TV broadcaster controlled by RTL, has struck a multi-year supply deal with Buena Vista International Television (BVI-TV).The deal covers recent and current feature films such as Pearl Harbor and 102 Dalmatians as well as live action series including Alias. RTL will also create a two-hour slot branded ...
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News Corp to be Italy's pay-TV king following Vivendi deal
News Corp is set to become the sole pay-TV operator in Italy following an agreement to buy Telepiu from Vivendi Universal's Canal Plus division for up to Euros1.5bn.The deal, agreed in London this weekend, is expected to mean Telepiu will be merged with Stream, the smaller pay-operator that News Corp ...
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Gilles Jacob joins Canal Plus Group board
Cannes festival chief Gilles Jacob has joined the supervisory board of Canal Plus Group in a management reshuffle that reflects the agreed sale of Italian pay-TV operator Telepiu to News Corp. Eric Licoys, Vivendi Universal number two, takes over the presidency of the supervisory board - on which Vivendi chief ...
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Couture fashions seamless Canal Plus revolution
Xavier Couture, who was plucked in dramatic circumstances in April from TF1 to head Canal Plus, has unveiled a management team that boasts only modest changes, but shorter lines of communication.Despite Couture's TF1 background, there are no appointments from other broadcasters and most new faces come from within the Vivendi ...
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Australia's Palace furnishes itself with Raitrade slate
Australia's Palace Pictures has picked up a package of ten Italian films from Italian sales house Raitrade.The deal sees Palace grab Cannes competition film The Religion Hour (aka My Mother's Smile) by Marco Bellocchio, Gabriele Salvatores' Amnesia, Alessandro Alatri's Casomai and Andrea and Antoni Frazzi's Almost America. The deal is ...
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Pathe, FilmFour in holy alliance for Bulletproof Monk
In a high profile move that underlines the growing co-operation between the two companies, Pathe Distribution and FilmFour have picked up UK rights to Bulletproof Monk. In another deal begun at Cannes, Filmax confirmed that it is to handle Spanish rights to the picture. The $55m action-adventure is the first ...
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Highlight takes German-speaking rights for Tadpole
Highlight Communications, the Swiss-based distributor and licensor, has picked up German-speaking rights to Tadpole, a low-budget coming of age drama directed by Gary Winick.The sale was the only one to Germany that Miramax agreed during Cannes. "We have seen everyone, but the offers are just too low," said Miramax International ...
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Distant Horizon takes world rights to Promised Land
Anant Singh's Distant Horizon has picked up world rights to Promised Land, the directorial debut of Jason Xenopolous.The South African film is a drama about one man's journey to find truth and a nation's struggle to hide it. It stars Nick Boraine, Yvonne van den Bergh, Daniel Browde and Ian ...