All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 64
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Advanced, Europool team to back big-budget pics
In a bid to increase its production financing firepower, German distributor Advanced Medien has acquired a 40% stake in local sales agent Europool. Europool is currently controlled by Telepool, a sales and production outfit owned by the country's wealthy public TV companies. In a statement, Advanced said that by 2004 ...
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Europe to streamline media, telecoms regulation
The European Commission yesterday announced plans to replace sector specific regulation of media, telecoms and the internet with a single set of rules covering all forms of electronic communication.The "technology neutral" rules are intended to increase competition and to stimulate affordable high-speed internet access. Although the EU's telecoms markets were ...
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Jiang banned for seven years by China
Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen has been banned from making films for seven years by the Chinese Film Bureau. His film Devils At The Doorstep (Guizi Lai Le), about China during the time of Japanese occupation, was judged as insufficiently patriotic. Jiang, who starred in several films by Zhang Yimou and ...
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Regulators vie for Vivendi Universal action
Such is the enthusiasm to get a piece of the Vivendi Universal deal that a spat appears to be developing between Europe's competition regulators. But Vivendi still believes that the deal will be greenlit sooner rather than later.The European Commission - the executive arm of the European Union - today ...
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Kinowelt expands into Poland with Best Film
German mini-studio Kinowelt has launched a joint distribution venture with Poland's Best Film, confirming the company's intention to set up its own distribution operations across Eastern Europe (Screendaily, January 19).The new venture, Best Film International, is expected to take over as distributor of all Kinowelt's films in Poland and to ...
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Vivendi-Seagram: EC extends Vizzavi probe
The European Commission has extended by two weeks its probe into the creation of Vizzavi. It was scheduled on July 10 to announce whether it thinks there is a competition question to be answered (Screendaily, June 15). It will now make the announcement on July 20. This kind of delay ...
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Policies, not personalities, spark Clark's exit
Differences of style and strategy - rather than a personality clash or ugly fights over issues - appears to have provoked Duncan Clark's decision to quit his job as president of Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI).Clark, who has been with the studio since 1987 and headed international distribution for ...
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Avignon hands out prizes beyond US, French borders
The Avignon film festival - for the first time expanded to include films from Europe, beyond France - awarded its prestigious Prix Tournage to Elias Merhige (US) for Shadow Of The Vampire, Virginie Wagon (France) for Le Secret, Giacomo Campiotti (Italy-France-UK) for A Time To Love (Il Tempo dell'Amore) and ...
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FINANCIAL BRIEFS
Media[netCOM] raises $38m through IPOFRANKFURT: Trading in the shares of German video-on-demand operator media[netCOM] began today. Initial trades took place at Euros21, unchanged from the upper end of the book-building range at which they were sold to investors. The flotation raised $37.98m (Euros39.9m).RTL Group confirms plans to list on London ...
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Phone rivals hit at Vizzavi
Vizzavi - one of the key planks on which the merger of Seagram, Vivendi and Canal Plus is built - was reportedly dealt a blow this weekend when two phone giants secured an injunction preventing the portal from operating in France. According to British newspaper The Sunday Times, British Telecommunications ...
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Kinowelt makes first direct move into broadcasting
German film giant Kinowelt has bought a 10% stake in satellite broadcast start-up B.TV Television.The company is a sister operation to B.TV Baden and B.TV Wuerttemberg, which are successful local broadcasters in the Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW) region. It begins broadcast of the new channel on July 15 using the Astra satellite ...
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China Star confirms Star TV output deal
China Star Entertainment has confirmed that it has struck a three-year output deal with regional broadcast powerhouse Star TV covering the 100 features produced under its 100 Years Of Cinema banner (Screendaily, May 16).The three-year deal gives Star exclusive video-on-demand, pay-per-view and pay-TV rights in both Mandarin and Cantonese versions. ...
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Kirch, Axel Springer create German TV giant
A new German TV giant is to be born following the merger of SAT1 and ProSieben (Pro7) Media which was announced today. The new group, ProSiebenSAT1 Media, which overtakes CLT-Ufa's RTL grouping, will be floated on the stock exchange later this year, but remain controlled by the Kirch group.With an ...
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Kirch set to take over SAT1
The Kirch group is poised to take full control of Germany's populist commercial channel SAT1 in a deal worth upwards of $700m, according to local reports.Kirch is expected to buy the 41% stake in SAT1 which is owned by publisher Axel Springer. While Kirch offered no comment, Springer confirmed that ...
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ONrequest signs supply deal with Universal
UK pay-per-view service ONrequest has signed a film supply deal with Universal Studios International. The non-exclusive deal allows ONrequest to screen Universal feature titles some six months ahead of premium pay-TV channels and at the same time as other pay-per-view channels such as Front Row or Sky Box Office. Titles ...
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CSA to probe Vivendi Seagram merger
French broadcast regulator, the Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), announced today that it plans to investigate the proposed merger of Vivendi, Canal Plus and Seagram.The CSA said it "plans to examine all the consequences of this operation on the audiovisual and programme-making industries." It will take into account shareholding structures ...
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VCL snaps up Woody Allen trio outside US
Rapidly establishing itself as a "must know" rights owner, Germany's VCL has bought international rights to the next three comedies by Woody Allen.VCL is to co-produce and co-finance the trio and will take world rights for 40 years. A deal for North America was signed with DreamWorks SKG in April ...
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Murdoch's Sky Global Networks files for IPO
Apparently unmoved by the prospect of links with Vivendi Universal, Rupert Murdoch yesterday filed details of Sky Global Networks with the US Securities & Exchange Commission ahead of a float in the US.Murdoch is creating the world's largest pay-TV operation by rolling into a single company all his satellite broadcast ...
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Lescure to head Vivendi Universal film activities
Vivendi staff are to get the top jobs in the new Vivendi Universal combine, but Canal Plus' boss Pierre Lescure will oversee all film and TV activities.Jean-Marie Messier, Vivendi chairman and architect of the deal (see profile), will as expected, become chairman and CEO at the head of a 20-member ...
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Champagne flows in Paris as European giant is born
The Paris media elite broke open the champagne on Monday night and partied away within sight of the Eiffel Tower after the boards of Canal Plus, Vivendi and eventually Seagram all agreed to a three-way merger between their companies in a $40.2bn deal including debt that creates Europe's first truly ...