All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 65
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Advanced Medien sells DVD package to EMS
Advanced Medien has sold a package of DVD rights to E-M-S new media for Austria and Switzerland.The package was headed by Oskar Roehler's Die Unberuehrbare, which appeared at Cannes this year and was named best film at the German Film Awards this weekend. It also includes Running Game and Stranger ...
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Germany's H5B5 acquires stake in Unapix
Boutique German TV producer H5B5, has bought a 25% stake in fast-moving US mini-conglomerate Unapix Entertainment.The German outfit said: "this strategic shareholding is a very important step. It sustains [our] goal in selling high quality products on the US TV market and allows H5B5 Media to exploit all distribution channels."The ...
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Intertainment to raise $163m for production push
Fast-expanding German rights broker Intertainment plans to raise more than $163m (Euros170m) to fund its drive into film production.The Munich-based company today said that it will increase its share capital by some two million shares in a rights issue in mid-July. Intertainment's financial advisers will set the price for the ...
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CineMedia grabs stake in Watch! Entertainment
German film services group CineMedia has given itself a further leg-up into production and new media through the acquisition of a stake in Watch! Entertainment.CineMedia is buying 26% of Watch!, a television producer established by a group of senior managers from Grundy Ufa TV Productions. Terms of the purchase were ...
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Kinowelt acquires stake in media[netCom]
Kinowelt Medien has bought a 10% stake in emerging German video-on-demand (VoD) player media[netCom].The move comes after several months of co-operation between the two companies, which saw Kinowelt become a supplier of content during media[netCom]'s experimental phase."The present state of development of media[netCom]'s cinema-on-demand technology shows very clearly how quickly ...
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UPC turns attention to video-on-demand
Dutch cable giant United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) is positioning itself to become a major supplier of content to third generation mobile phone operators and as a video-on-demand (VoD) wholesaler. Although the group is expanding from cable into telephony and wireless communications, UPC chairman Mark Schneider said that cost factors mean ...
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UPC in talks to acquire major stake in Noos
Dutch cable giant United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) confirmed that it is in the running to buy a major stake in Noos, the French cable network operated by the Suez-Lyonnaise combine. UPC's bid was explained by chairman Mark Schneider at a press meeting in Amsterdam on Friday: "We are interested in ...
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Dutch gov't to open cable networks to rivals
The Dutch government has ruled that local cable networks must be open to rival internet suppliers, but partly allayed cable operators' fears by delaying the introduction of "open access" for at least two years.The cabinet also said that new legislation will be drawn up in line with wider European regulations ...
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Yes strikes content deal with Warner Bros
Yes Television, the UK video-on demand (VoD) supplier that was to have floated this month on the London stock market, has added a new content supply deal with Warner Bros.The new arrangement, which makes Yes the first VoD company in the UK to carry made-for-TV fare from Warner Bros International ...
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Kopelson shifts slate from Fox to Intertainment
Germany's Intertainment has stepped up to fully finance a $1bn slate of films being prepared by Oscar-winning producer Arnold Kopelson, who is poised to quit his production deal at 20th Century Fox.Kopelson and his wife and producing partner Anne enjoyed huge commercial success with a prolific stream of pictures for ...
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Constantin grabs Hyde Park slate
German distributor Constantin Film has struck an output deal that gives it theatrical and video/DVD rights to a slate of films flowing from US producer Hyde Park Entertainment.The five-year deal, which gives Constantin rights in Germany and Austria, was concluded with KirchMedia, which as part of the Epsilon pact with ...
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BSkyB shares hit by Vivendi, Kirch sales
Shares in BSkyB remained highly volatile today after two of its key shareholders yesterday sold stakes.At 14:00 BST the shares were trading at £12.07, having closed 6% down at £12.85 overnight. In earlier trading today they had dipped as low as £11.48. The shares were hit when investment bank Lehman ...
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Canal Plus to sponsor Deauville fest
Canal Plus is to become the principal sponsor of the Deauville Festival of American Film.The value of the endorsement by the pay-TV giant was not disclosed, but the contract is understood to cover three years from 2000 to 2002. The move appears to underscore the revival of Deauville, which is ...
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Chello puts back flotation for second time
Mark Schneider, chairman and chief executive of Dutch cable network giant UPC, said on Wednesday (June 7) that the flotation of its Chello Broadband division would not go ahead as planned on Friday, June 9. The float had already been postponed for at least a week, last Wednesday (May 31).The ...
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EC extends deadline on AOL/Time Warner probe
The European Commission (EC) has ruled that it needs more time to adjudicate on the competition issues raised by America On-Line (AOL)'s proposed takeover of Time Warner (TW). But it kept quiet on whether it would link its investigations into Time Warner's takeover of music group EMI.The EC, which has ...
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Vivendi in talks to offload AOL France stake
French media and utilities giant Vivendi has started talks with America On-Line (AOL) about selling its stake in AOL France. Vivendi managing director Philippe Germond made it clear last week that: "our wish is to get out of AOL France and not to have a shareholding link with it." While ...
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EC probe could help Vivendi's up-Stream battle
Today's decision by the European Commission (EC) to investigate the takeover of Italian digital TV platform Stream may help French facilities group Vivendi negotiate the terms on which it would cease hostilities with News Corp and join Platco.While expressing growing enthusiasm for Platco, a new holding company that would harness ...
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BKN swallows France's Studio Arles
German animation producer and distributor BKN International (BKNI) has acquired specialist French cartoon house Studio Arles Animation. Arles' boss Daniel Schwall is to join BKNI as its head of production.Stockmarket-traded BKNI said the deal: "is the first step of BKNI's expansion strategy in the production side of the business' and ...
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EC to investigate Pearson, CLT-Ufa merger
The European Commission (EC)'s competition regulators have decided to probe the proposed merger of Pearson Television and CLT-Ufa. The EC has used its merger regulation powers to open a preliminary, one-month review of the $19bn deal that was announced in April (Screendaily, Apr 07) . The companies were notified on ...
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Das Werk expands overseas with En Efecto merger
German facilities group Das Werk is to merge with En Efecto, a Barcelona-based post-production and animation group. En Efecto groups together four companies: post-production companies Video Efecto and Cinefecto, laboratory Image Film and Film & Tape, which distributes materials. The group recently joined the Max European Post-Production Alliance. Financial details ...