NEW YORK, March 9: ABC's broadcast of the 82nd annual Academy Awards on Sunday brought in an average audience of 41.3 million total viewers, qualifying as television's most watched entertainment telecast since 2005, according to Nielsen's "Fast National" ratings.

BURBANK, March 9: FOX has given a third-season order to the J.J. Abrams drama Fringe, which is to resume airing in its second season with eight fresh episodes on April 1.

BURBANK, March 9: ABC Family has picked up the network TV premiere rights to The Blind Side, which stars Sandra Bullock in her Oscar-winning role.

NEW YORK/UNIVERSAL CITY, March 9: NBC has renewed its exclusive agreement with Donald Trump and the Miss Universe Organization to broadcast the Miss Universe and MIss USA pageants for an additional three years, effective in 2011.

TORONTO, March 9: Hot Docs will welcome a record eight official delegations at this year's edition: Abu Dhabi, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, the Nordic region, the U.K. and U.S.

LOS ANGELES, March 8: In addition to scoring the night's big win as best picture, The Hurt Locker took home five additional Academy Awards, including a best director nod for Kathryn Bigelow.

Jeff Gomez and Nathan Mayfield will be hosting a session at the MIPTV Producers' Forum—a two-day initiative organized in association with World Screen—about developing stories and concepts across multiple platforms.

PARIS, March 8: Jonathan Miller, the chief digital officer and chairman and CEO of the digital media group at News Corporation, will deliver a MIP Digital keynote on April 13.

ABU DHABI, March 8: Fox International Channels is stepping up its activities in the Middle East, partnering with twofour54 on three major projects that were announced at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit.

BURBANK, March 8: ABC Family has clinched the rights to Walt Disney Pictures' new blockbuster Alice in Wonderland for a 2012 U.S. network television premiere.

MADRID/NEW YORK, March 8: Spain's Group Prisa is to receive a $900 million cash injection via a merger deal with Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp., a U.S.-based special-purpose acquisition company.

UNIVERSAL CITY, March 8: NBC has renewed three more series for its Thursday night comedy lineup, with 30 Rock, The Office and Community set to rejoin Parks and Recreation.

LONDON, March 8: ITV Studios' newly created entertainment format Marco's Kitchen Burnout has been commissioned by ITV1 for broadcast in spring.

LONDON, March 8: Virgin Media has added Film4 HD and E4 HD to its digital TV platform, bringing such offerings as the blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire and hit series Glee and Hollyoaks to the lineup in high definition.

LONDON, March 8: The lifestyle channel Fine Living Network (FLN) will launch on April 1 across more than 60 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

TEL AVIV, March 8: Dori Media Group has sold the teen vampire series Split into 35 countries since its launch nine months ago, with the Philippines as the latest territory, and the first in Asia, to pick up the daily drama.

NEW DELHI, March 8: ESPN STAR Sports has signed a deal with Media Star Global to produce and air the Indian football reality show Super Soccer Star.

PARIS, March 8: Mooscoop has wrapped a deal with Chutti TV, Sun TV's kids' channel in India, for 725 half-hours of programming.

HARRINGTON PARK, March 8: Janson Media has licensed the non-theatrical rights to Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia from its Giant Screen Film collection to EDIMA of France.

LONDON, March 8: October Films' Rude Tube International has been sold by RDF Rights into a number of new territories, including Denmark, Hungary and Japan.

LONDON, March 8: Coinciding with its 20th anniversary, VGI Entertainment has changed its name to VSI Entertainment.

TORONTO, March 8: Cream Productions has completed production on the new 4x1-hour Aftermath series for National Geographic Channel in the U.S. and History Television in Canada, and the show will be launched at MIPTV by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

STOCKHOLM, March 8: Modern Times Group (MTG) has named Laurence Miall-d'Aout as chief of staff for its free-TV operations and Martin Lewerth as chief of staff for the group’s pay-TV sector.

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 8: Philip Bourchier O’Ferrall has been upped to senior VP of digital media for MTV Networks International.

ALVISO, March 5: A U.S. appeals court has sided with TiVo in the latest development in its long-running dispute against DISH Network and EchoStar over patent infringements of its DVR technology.

WINNIPEG, March 5: Leonard Asper is stepping down as the president and CEO of Canwest Global Communications "in order to pursue other business opportunities and to avoid any concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest," the company said in a statement.

BURBANK, March 5: The CW is bringing back Smallville, a modern retelling of the Superman legend, in the fall for a tenth season.

LONDON, March 5: CBBC has commissioned two further seasons of its hit Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

LONDON, March 5: SCI FI Channel in the Benelux is to become Syfy Universal this month, debuting its new look alongside three territory premieres: Stargate Universe, Primeval and Sanctuary.

NEW YORK, March 5: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) has greenlit a new eight-episode unscripted series, called Help Me, Martha!, which is being produced in association with Mark Burnett.