Grade steps in at BBC LONDON -- Former Channel 4 chief executive Michael Grade has been confirmed as chairman of the BBC, replacing Gavyn Davies, who quit in the wake of criticism of the pubcaster in Lord Hutton's report on the death of weapons scientist David Kelly and the BBC's reporting on the run-up to the Iraq war.
Ecuador fights pirates QUITO, Ecuador -- Ecuador Friday destroyed thousands of compact discs and DVDs in a fight against rampant piracy that has driven some foreign companies out of this impoverished nation.
HIT lands Henson CANNES -- HIT Entertainment, owners of "Bob the Builder" and "Barney the Dinosaur," said Thursday that it has signed a five-year global licensing, distribution and production deal with the Jim Henson Co. for 440 hours of its programming library, including "Fraggle Rock" and "The Hoobs."
SPTI's Spanish plan CANNES -- Sony Pictures Television International said at MIPTV on Thursday that it will produce its first local co-production in Spain with the Federation of Autonomic Radio and Television Organizations (FORTA) -- an association of regional public-service broadcasters -- to make 22 hourlong episodes of "DeModa," an ensemble dramedy.
'Education' pulled MADRID -- A falling out between one of Spain's biggest exhibitors and the local Warner distribution subsidiary has led to the yanking of Pedro Almodovar's latest film, "Bad Education," from more than a dozen theaters around the country Thursday.
Passionate critique PARIS -- An umbrella group of France's main Jewish organizations said Thursday that Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" contained "elements of anti-Semitism" and violence that was "extreme and sick." The film opened Wednesday in France.
Memory in light LONDON -- The BBC said Thursday that it plans to shoot a 3,000-foot beam, called a light sculpture, into the night sky over London as a memorial to journalists who have lost their lives while working.
Euro MTV, indies pact LONDON -- MTV Networks Europe signed a new three-year deal with independent record labels Thursday, ending a threat that the music broadcaster would lose scores of videos by such artists as the White Stripes, Ozzy Osbourne and Craig David.
Banff chief exits TORONTO -- Pat Ferns, president and CEO of the Banff Television Foundation, the organizer of the annual Banff Television Festival, is set to step aside as part of a management restructuring.
News dials up series CANNES -- News Corp. has produced two pilot episodes of its first original series made expressly for distribution to mobile phones equipped with video screens, News Corp. senior vp content and marketing Lucy Hood said in a speech here Thursday at the MIPTV market.
Though not as salacious as "Sex and the City," Sylvia Chang's intergenerational new film is an equally entertaining view of contemporary women and their complicated lives.
