All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 60
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News
CanalNumedia makes English-lang ticketing debut
CanalNumedia, the internet subsidiary of France's Canal Plus, has made its first move into Ireland, with the acquisition of a new-technology ticketing group Filmline. The company, which will be renamed CanalNumedia Ireland, operates an interactive telephone booking service on behalf of exhibitors. It will go live with an internet booking ...
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Bouffard appointed Unifrance general manager
The French free-tv broadcasters will have to increase their compulsory investment in French film production (through pre-buys, co-productions and theatrical distribution) to 3.2% of their revenues (against 3% previously) according to new broadcasting legislation.The French broadcasting sector is a major backer of the French film indsutry. Last year, the involvement ...
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All systems go for AOL Time Warner after FTC nod
The most arduous legal obstacle facing the biggest corporate merger in US history was swept away on Thursday after Washington's five-member Federal Trade Commission gave its unanimous approval to America Online's $111bn takeover of Time Warner - but with stringent conditions attached in the form of a consent decree.With only ...
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StudioCanal shares leap by 20%
The shares of StudioCanal have become the latest part of the Vivendi Universal galaxy to suddenly shine. In heavy trading on Wednesday the shares surged 20% from Euros9.39 to Euros11.20.Stockmarket rumours suggest that Vivendi Universal is considering a bid for the 18% of the company that it does not already ...
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Carlton rethinks European internet alliance
The UK's Carlton Communications has scaled back its plans for an internet "Grand @lliance" with France's TF1 and the Epsilon trio of Kirch, Mediaset and Telecinco.According to sources, the pact came unstuck when it failed to secure financial commitments from Kirch, Mediaset and Telecinco. But Carlton denies that its internet ...
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Vivendi Universal down on first day of trading
Arbitrageurs wasted little time in getting to grips with the shares of the new Vivendi Universal group and the markedly downsized Canal Plus outfit. The merger may only have been waved through on Friday evening, when Canal Plus shareholders gave their 96.6% approval, but trading began almost immediately in the ...
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Snapper options McNally's Perfect Ganesh
New York-based production outfit Snapper Films has acquired the film rights to Terrence McNally's award-winning play A Perfect Ganesh.Headed by director-turned producer Juha Wuolijoki, Snapper hopes to get the film into production in the early autumn, 2001, and is currently putting together the financing. Snapper last year produced Tony Bui's ...
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EM.TV fall from grace typifies Neuer Markt agonies
At a Wednesday morning price of Euros8.30, EM.TV & Merchandising's shares are so far below their peak as to be almost unrecognisable. They are 93% below their 2000 peak of Euros119.5.But EM.TV's demise represents more than the fall from grace of one overly ambitious firm. The company was one of ...
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Splendid signs distribution deal with Fox
German video distributor and licence trader Splendid Medien has struck a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox which will market Splendid's burgeoning slate in the German theatrical and pay-TV sectors for the next two years.The widely anticipated deal (Screen International, Oct 17), which also covers Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, includes ...
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Europa Cinemas plays to youth audience
Taking a leaf out of the well thumbed book written by Hollywood Stock Exchange, European exhibition support organisation Europa Cinemas has launched an on-line film game.The Great Game (Le Grand Jeu) went live on Monday (Nov 20) - at www.europa-cinemas.org - as part of the organisation's annual Netd@ys initiative, which ...
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Sinapi's Uneasy Riders wins two London fest prizes
The 44th Regus London Film Festival, which closed last night with the screening of David Kane's highly-anticipated Born Romantic, has announced this year's prize-winners.Uneasy Riders (Nationale 7), a French film by Jean Pierre Sinapi that was screened during MIFED by Vincent Maraval's Paris-based Wild Bunch, was honoured by the FIPRESCI ...
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SBS appoints Tellenbach as COO
Markus Tellenbach, whose departure from KirchPayTV was announced only two weeks ago, has been appointed chief operating officer of SBS Broadcasting.Tellenbach will start his new job from March 1. He succeeds Howard "Woody" Knight, who will remain SBS' vice chairman and focus on strategy, financing and acquisitions. "Markus is a ...
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Vivendi to break links with News Corp
Vivendi has called off its attempt to establish a long-term alliance with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.Vivendi chief executive Jean-Marie Messier, in an interview with the UK's Financial Times, said that severing the difficult relationship with News Corp would be of benefit to the complicated merger that Vivendi is engineering with ...
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Kinowelt takes control of Village's German circuit
Proving that its taste for acquisitions has not yet been satiated, Kinowelt has taken control of Village Roadshow's German theatrical circuit.The widely-anticipated deal (ScreenDaily, Sept 27, Oct 31) sees Kinowelt purchase a 25.2% stake in Village Roadshow Exhibition, but obtain management control. Day-to-day operations will be handled by the management ...
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FTC delays decision on AOL-Time Warner
US anti-monopoly regulator, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has taken the rare action of "stopping the clock" on its review of AOL's takeover of Time Warner. Having waited so long for the deal to be given the green light, another delay may not hurt anyone. But the latest hold-up seems ...
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MTG buys worldwide rights to Crown Film Library
Modern Entertainment, part of Sweden's Modern Times Group, has acquired worldwide distribution to the Crown Film Library.The 110-title catalogue spans English-language pictures produced between 1960 and 1990 and includes several early films by Danny DeVito and Kevin Costner.Modern Entertainment, which is part of the Modern Studios division and which was ...
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Kinowelt sells Warner package to ZDF
Kinowelt, the German distribution, licensing and production giant, has sold a package of films from its famously hard to shift Warner Bros catalogue to state broadcaster ZDF. The deal should help defuse some of the recent criticism of the group. The 21-picture package for free TV is made up of ...
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Advanced boosts slate with Paradise, Killers
Adding to a string of MIFED deals, German distributor Advanced Medien has added two more titles to its 2001 release slate: Majid Majidi's award-winning film The Colour Of Paradise and Dito Tsintsadze's Lost Killers.Paradise, acquired from Menemsha Entertainment, has enjoyed successful runs in a number of countries, but in Germany ...
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Cine-International sells eight to E-M-S
Veteran German sales house Cine-International Filmvertrieb clinched a number of MIFED deals on its new and library titles.Market newcomer E-M-S New Media licensed German-speaking video and DVD rights to eight pictures including Robert Sigl's mystery thriller Laurin, Wolfgang Lesowsky's Gustav Mahler, Michael Cacoyannis' Sweet Country, Nicholas Schilling's Rheingold and Rudolf ...
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EU gives aid to third-world film-makers
The European Union (EU) has launched an aid programme to support production and distribution of films from the crisis hit African, Caribbean and Pacific regions.The new cash is coming from the EU's European Development Fund in an effort to boost cultural and social co-operation. Production finance of Euros100,000 to Euros400,000 ...