Month: March 2020

Online screening portal ProgramBuyer will launch a free digital service uniting buyers and sellers affected by the cancellation of MipTV. From March 30, those now unable to meet physically will be able to access the new “Mip Releases” section on the ProgramBuyer portal. Any distributor, including ProgramBuyer subscribers and non-subscribers, will be able to access
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Several economists, academics and directors of research institutions from around the world have written to Rishi Sunak, the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, asking the government to extend support to the self-employed. In a letter published in The Times newspaper on Monday, the signatories wrote: “We welcome the support for the employed, but the self-employed
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Japanese pay-TV group, Wowow has greenlighted a third season of its local adaptation of U.S. hit series “Cold Case.” It is expected to premiere in winter 2020. The announcement follows agreement with licensor Warner Bros. International Television Production. The company said that the success of “Cold Case” helped usher in a trend of Japanese networks
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Film and TV guilds, regional bodies and representatives of leading companies in New Zealand have joined forces to set up a coronavirus crisis center. The move comes the same day as the government put the entire country into lockdown for four weeks and New Zealand cinemas close for an indefinite period. The Screen Sector COVID-19
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“The Rosie O’Donnell Show” is back. O’Donnell’s talk show returned for one night only on Sunday to serve as a fundraiser for The Actors Fund, an organization that provides numerous services for people in need in the performing arts and entertainment business. The evening raised more than $500,000, which included $100,000 from O’Donnell. The 3
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Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical adaptation of “In the Heights” could struggle to be ready in time for its big-screen debut, currently set for June 26, if coronavirus concerns delay post-production, the Tony winner suggested Sunday night. Miranda — in a livestream interview with Rosie O’Donnell that was billed as a remounting of her successful daytime talk
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March 22, 2020 5:03PM PT Originally set for April 25, this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been postponed. A new date will be announced at a later time. The White House Correspondents’ Association made the announcement on Sunday afternoon. “The White House Correspondents’ Association regrets to announce that it is unable to go ahead
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Facebook is contributing its supply of 720,000 respiratory masks to U.S. health care workers and is looking to procure millions of additional masks, joining Apple and others pitching in to provide the protective gear amid critical shortages during the COVID-19 outbreak. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and CEO, announced the donation Sunday on the social platform.
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The Creative District Improvement Company has teamed up with property developers Quinn Estates to invest £250 million ($292 million) in Ashford International Studios, a new film and TV studios in Ashford, South-East England, which they say will create 3,000 jobs. The 15-acre site was formerly a locomotive manufacturing plant until the early 1980s. The companies
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March 22, 2020 11:04AM PT Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first U.S. senator to contract coronavirus. His office announced the diagnosis on Twitter Sunday morning, saying he is asymptomatic and currently in quarantine. The announcement said that he was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his
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March 22, 2020 8:25AM PT British commercial broadcaster ITV has halted production on the U.K.’s most popular scripted shows — soaps “Coronation Street” and “Emmerdale” — due to the coronavirus crisis. In a statement, the company said: “We’ve been doing our best to carry on filming, whilst adhering to the government’s latest health guidelines, to
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Netflix is squeezing back video bit rates to reduce the strain on bandwidth-stressed networks worldwide, starting in Europe and the U.K. But the company is telling customers in affected regions that, technically speaking, they’ll still be able to stream HD and even Ultra HD content — just that the video will be delivered with lower
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