PARIS/COPENHAGEN, March 17: Banijay Entertainment Group has created a new distribution division, Banijay International, incorporating Nordisk Film TV World, which it acquired last October.

HILVERSUM, March 17: Entering into its fifth joint venture in three months, Talpa Media has inked a deal with Shine Group for a new co-owned outfit aimed at the markets of Australia and New Zealand.

LONDON, March 17: Steve Copestake, the former senior VP of international marketing at Disney-ABC-ESPN Television, has been named head of global marketing for Endemol.

TORONTO/STOCKHOLM, March 15: The original format Battle of the Blades, which highlights an ice-skating competition, has been added to the portfolio of Sparks Network, which picked up the series from Insight Production Company.

BUENOS AIRES, March 15: Among Telefe International's highlights for MIPTV are the teen telenovela The Resistance and romantic comedy WAGs, Love for the Game.

LONDON, March 15: Victoria Ashbourne has been tapped to serve as the senior VP of creative development for international production at Sony Pictures Television (SPT).

TEL AVIV, March 12: Armoza Formats has taken on the international distribution rights for the Israeli series The Ran Quadruplets, which was commissioned for a pilot in the U.S. last month by CBS.

MEXICO CITY, March 12: Two new telenovelas from Pol-ka have joined the catalogue of Televisa Internacional: Somebody to Love Me and Wicked Girl.

LONDON, March 12: Media Entertainment Group (MEG) has secured two new distribution deals for its recently launched format division.

LONDON, March 11: The U.S. version of Wall to Wall's original format Who Do You Think You Are?, which premiered on NBC on March 5, has been sold by Outright Distribution into eight territories.

LONDON, March 10: CBS has given a second-season order for Undercover Boss for the 2010-11 broadcast season.

HILVERSUM, March 10: In continuing its global expansion efforts, John de Mol's Talpa Media has set up a co-owned joint venture with Portuguese TV producer CBV.

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

HILVERSUM, March 4: John de Mol's Talpa Media has set up a co-owned joint venture with Spanish production outfit Boomerang TV Group.

LONDON, March 4: The game-show format Cash at Your Door joins the slate of ALL3MEDIA International, which already has pre-launch options secured for the show.

NEW YORK, March 3: The Producers' Forum is a new two-day initiative at MIPTV, organized in association with World Screen. Kicking off a series on the panelists at Producers' Forum, David Lyle, the president of Fox Reality Channel, discusses the Entertainment Master Class on selling and protecting formats.

BURBANK, March 2: Dancing with the Stars is returning to ABC on March 22, when all 11 couples will take to the dance floor for the first time in the new season.

LONDON, March 2: UKTV has picked up the broadcast rights for the tenth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars from BBC Worldwide to air on its entertainment channel Watch.

LONDON, March 2: The premiere of Pilipinas Got Talent, the Filipino adaptation of FremantleMedia's hit competition format, debuted on ABS-CBN with a 38.7-percent audience share.

LONDON, March 1: Endemol has picked up a controlling interest in WeiT Media, a Russian production company headed up by Timur Weinstein that works across drama, entertainment, animation, feature films and TV movies, documentaries and digital content.

TORONTO, March 1: Canwest Broadcasting and Lone Eagle Entertainment are bringing the hit obstacle-course format Wipeout to Canada for TVtropolis to air in 2011.

LONDON, March 1: Maximilian Bolenius is to serve as the VP of sales for German-speaking Europe and Eastern Europe at FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), joining from a role as director of sales at ZDF Enterprises.

TEL AVIV, February 25: Group revenues at Dori Media Group for 2009 were down 3 percent to $48.7 million, with an increase in TV channel revenues helping to offset declines from the sales of telenovelas.

LONDON, February 25: Power is expanding its business with the launch of a new division, Powerlocal, which will be led by Sue Green as managing director.

LONDON, February 25: Endemol UK has promoted former deputy creative director Nick Mather to the role of head of entertainment.

LONDON, February 25: ITV Studios has been commissioned to produce the new entertainment format The Door, from the team behind the hits I'm a Celebrity...Get Me out of Here! and Hell's Kitchen, for ITV1.

TEL AVIV, February 24: Armoza Formats' game show The Bubble has been ordered for full seasons by SVT in Sweden and Holland's BNN/NED3.

LONDON, February 23: The ALL3MEDIA International weight-loss format Village on a Diet is headed into production in Canada and new format options have been signed for the show in Europe.

LONDON, February 23: Outright Distribution has notched up another format deal for the factual-entertainment show The World's Strictest Parents, with France's M6 signing up for a local version.