NEW YORK, February 9: At MIPTV, World Screen will launch TV Middle East & Africa, expanding its slate of targeted, regional publications.

NEW YORK, February 9: Merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. entertainment and media (E&M) industry could potentially rebound this year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, following a 49-percent decline in 2009.

NEW YORK, February 9: Super Bowl XLIV on CBS on Sunday night scored 106.5 million viewers in the U.S., becoming the most-watched program of all time and delivering a major ratings boost to Undercover Boss, the new show from ALL3MEDIA's Studio Lambert.

LONDON, February 9: Jeremy Darroch, BSkyB's chief executive, has been lined up to deliver a keynote address at MIPTV, in which he will discuss the growth of the leading British pay-TV platform.

PARIS/LOS ANGELES, February 9: DISCOP and NATPE have announced that their new event, DISCOP Middle East, will take place in Istanbul in March of 2011.

LONDON, February 9: Ben Bradshaw, the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, has announced that restrictions on product placement will be lifted, following a public consultation that concluded in January.

TORONTO, February 9: Ricky Gervais, a comedian best known for creating the comedy hits The Office and Extras, has been selected to receive this year's Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award at BANFF/nextMEDIA.

LAUSANNE, February 9: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded broadcast rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games to América Televisión in Peru.

TORONTO, February 9: Corus Entertainment is expanding its portfolio of specialty services with the March 1 rollout of W Movies, a movie channel targeted to women.

NEW YORK, February 9: Syfy's new supernatural drama series Haven, based on the novella The Colorado Kid from Steven King, will feature Emily Rose in the lead role.

MONTREAL, February 9: Incendo has formalized its long-standing working partnership with Zone3, signing a new deal that sees the companies teaming up to create programming for Canadian broadcasters.

SYDNEY, February 9: SBS has sold its landmark series First Australians, produced by Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale, to French pubcaster Arte France.

MILAN/PARIS, February 9: Atlantyca Entertainment and Moonscoop have signed new deals to extend the global reach of the Geronimo Stilton property, with a number of additional international broadcasters signing on for the show.

TORONTO, February 9: Portfolio Entertainment's inaugural In Toon with Tweens animation contest invites animators and creators to submit their original projects for a chance at C$10,000 in cash as part of option and development agreements.

NEW YORK, February 9: HIT Entertainment has given the go-ahead for the development of two new projects, along with appointing a newly created Global Advisory Committee.

LONDON, February 9: Media Entertainment Group's (MEG) newly launched format division has picked up Miss Lingerie Model from New Zealand's Comedia Productions, and has already scored an option for the show by Canadian indie Trio Orange for French-speaking Canada.

HARRINGTON PARK, February 9: The doc series Warriors of the Night has been sold by Janson Media to Canal+ Cyfrowy for its Planete Poland channel.

MIAMI, February 9: In the newly appointed role of executive VP of Telemundo Network News, Ramon Escobar will develop strategic plans for all news properties while supervising the news programming at the network.

LONDON, February 8: BSkyB is relinquishing its battle to retain 17.9 percent of ITV, formally committing to reducing its interest in the British broadcasting group.

PARIS, February 8: MIPDoc has issued a call for projects to be included in its new Co-Productions Seeking Funding initiative, produced in association with World Screen.

COPENHAGEN, February 8: Modern Times Group has acquired a 50-percent interest in the Russian DTH platform Raduga TV, which offers more than 50 channels to its 70,000 subscribers.

NEW YORK, February 8: Andrea Wong is leaving her post as president and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services, just a few months after the company was acquired by A&E Television Networks.

LONDON, February 8: The story of a young Boy George and his path to stardom in the '80s fashion and pop-music scene is chronicled in Worried About the Boy, a BBC Two drama from Red Production Company.

STOCKHOLM, February 8: Viasat Broadcasting has unveiled a new subscription video-on-demand service for its Viasat OnDemand online portal in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

LONDON, February 8: MTV Networks Poland has secured carriage with Cyfrowy Polsat for its Comedy Central channel.

NEW YORK, February 8: E1 Television and E1 Music are partnering with recording artist Faith Evans to release a new studio album and reality series, It's All About Faith.

BOGATA, February 8: Caracol Television’s Without Breasts There is No Paradise is being adapted for the Italian market, with a local version in production for Mediaset.

SYDNEY, February 8: XYZnetworks has entered into a multi-year volume deal with RDF Rights to acquire a minimum of 300 hours of first-run exclusive content for its portfolio of channels, including The LifeStyle Channel, LifeStyle YOU and LifeStyle FOOD.

LONDON, February 8: ALL3MEDIA International has signed a new deal that sees its formats catalogue represented exclusively in Flemish-speaking Belgium by BGoodMedia.

ATLANTA, February 8: China International TV Corporation (CITVC), a division of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, has inked a deal with Castalia Communications to take its content to Latin America.