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EM.TV-Kirch deal for motor racing still stalled BERLIN The future of Formula One motor racing TV coverage continues to hit red lights. German kidvidder EM.TV and shareholder the Kirch Group [...]

After the fall comes the fallout. After the crash, the consolidation. The scene is set on Germany's collapsing Neuer Markt for a flurry of takeovers, mergers and bailouts in the [...]

BERLIN For the first time in several years, U.S. pics came away virtually empty-handed at the 51st Berlin Intl. Film Festival, which wrapped Feb. 18. Instead, French director Patrice Chereau's […]

BERLIN German auds are showing signs of reality TV fatigue. According to a study by market research company EMNID, 87% of those interviewed want less of what locals call 'container [...]

BERLIN The EM.TV rescue saga took a wrong turn Feb. 21 when the Intl. Automobile Federation (FIA) opposed a deal in which EM.TV will share its stake in Formula One [...]

John Malone is further flexing his muscle across the Euro Continent. His company Liberty Media and investor Gary Klesch's eponymous outfit have signed a letter of intent to buy majority [...]

The Neuer Markt hit its lowest point in over two years last week, yet international film players continue to scout for a home on the erstwhile hot German exchange. Artisan, [...]

BERLIN Independent distribution took on a new meaning in Germany thanks to the Neuer Markt bourse in 2000. On the back of stock coin, many of the country's indie distribs […]

BERLIN Kirk Douglas was greeted by a euphoric and star-starved press Feb. 15 in Berlin, where he was on hand to receive a Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement. The veteran […]

BERLIN Moritz de Hadeln's 22-year reign as director of the Berlin Intl. Film Festival has ended not with a bang but with a whimper. The Danish movie 'Italian for Beginners' [...]

BERLIN German femme producer Regina Ziegler is turning her attention to the rich and famous in a series of biopics. First to get the Ziegler treatment will be German publishing [...]

Bertelsmann's RTL stake pries open public door BERLIN Bertelsmann, the giant but traditionally conservative German media company, is taking a dominant stake in RTL, Europe's largest TV entity. The move [...]

BERLIN A record number of new releases last year couldn't improve business much at the German box office, where revenue grew by only 2%, according to national film board figures [...]

BERLIN The 51st Berlin Intl. Film Festival kicked into high gear Feb. 9 with Danish Dogma title 'Italian for Beginners,' improving on a solid first fest day and a disappointing [...]

BERLIN After the euphoria that surrounded media stocks on German exchange the Neuer Markt the past two years, an eventual slide back to reality was inevitable. But nobody knew how [...]

BERLIN Hollywood heavy-weights and indies alike can tell you there is more to German financing than the well-known Teutonic stock exchange, the Neuer Markt. Companies from New Line to Paramount [...]

BERLIN The main competition jury for the 51st Berlin Intl. Film Festival has been set, even as the potential actors strike casts a shadow on the fest's star contingent. Joining [...]

BERLIN Ex-Moving Pictures' publisher-producer Mike Downey and U.K. producer Sam Taylor have joined forces with the German film/music production and acquisitions entity Fame to form London-based Film and Music Entertainment [...]

Rupert Murdoch has taken a 2.48% stake in Kirch Media in exchange for Murdoch's tm3 and a reported cash payment of DM100 million ($48 million). Murdoch already owns a minority [...]

GERMANY Responding to the latest reports on ongoing talks between troubled German kidvidder EM.TV and Germany's Kirch Group, EM.TV said Jan. 17 it would only sell its coveted stake in [...]

BERLIN Facing a troubled German stock market, distribution giant Kinowelt Medien has opted to take a strategic partner, selling a 5% stake to insurance company Munich Re Group. Kinowelt founders […]

BERLIN The feast is over for many of the Neuer Markt's upstart media players, whose eyes have proven bigger than their stomachs: It's clear that several have bitten off more [...]

BERLIN Forget Canada. All of a sudden, Europe has become the place to shoot -- and Germany is at the heart of the action. When Mandalay Pictures' "Enemy at the […]

BERLIN Munich state prosecutors are investigating German kidvidder EM.TV & Merchandising's management for allegedly breaking German trading laws. Shareholders and lobby groups alike began calling for an investigation after EM.TV [...]

BERLIN Ridley Scott's 'Hannibal,' Lasse Hallstrom's 'Chocolat,' Giuseppe Tornatore's 'Malena' and Michael Winterbottom's 'The Claim' are among titles in the running for the competition section of the 51st Berlin Intl. [...]

German film fund Cinerenta has unveiled a raft of new projects to fall under its fourth funding tranche, which is set to raise $315 million. The Munich-based company has boarded […]

BERLIN Media companies soaring on the high-flying German stock exchange, the Neuer Markt, came crashing down to earth Dec. 4 when major player EM.TV announced it was downgrading its earnings […]

BERLIN Lawyers are investigating EM.TV & Merchandising, and an analyst is calling for the resignation of its chief, Thomas Haffa, after the kidvidder shocked the industry by downgrading earnings by [...]

BERLIN German production fund KC Medien has unveiled production pacts with Mandalay Pictures, French giant Pathe and Lions Gate that will see it invest north of $500 million in their […]

Peter Guber's Mandalay Pictures is getting a Teutonic make-over. If the complicated deal goes through, Munich-based outfit Cine-artists will take a major stake in Mandalay Pictures, which in turn would […]

GERMANY German distribution company Kinowelt and U.S. channel NBC Europe have reached an agreement that will see Kinowelt feature films broadcast daily in primetime on the channel. Films going to […]

BERLIN The death last week of Helkon Media co-founder and topper Werner Koenig, 37, saw the company's share price fall drastically, reflecting the challenge for Helkon of completing all that [...]

Helmer Phillip Noyce's Rumbalara Films has signed a four-year first-look deal with Kinowelt USA, the U.S. film production arm of Munich-based Kinowelt Medien. Rumbalara, which is headed by Noyce and [...]

SYDNEY Continuing its policy of scaling back its international cinema empire to focus on fewer territories, Australia's Village Roadshow has sealed a long-mooted deal to sell its German circuit to [...]

MUNICH German distrib Kinowelt has made a second key deal for movies in its $300 million Warner Bros. package by licensing a clutch of those titles to German pubcaster ZDF. [...]

BERLIN German post-production house Das Werk is set to take an 85% stake in U.K. post house GlassWorks. Set for Jan. 1, deal would rep Das Werk's second acquisition of [...]

LONDON German sales company Peppermint is handling titles from both Senator Film and partner Pleswin Entertainment, bringing into question the status of Amberlon Pictures, Pleswin and Senator's joint distribution venture. [...]

Weary execs reassert market's vitality It's time to put a stake through the heart of the London Screenings and bring Mifed back to life. As the 67th Milan film market [...]

MILAN The deals that define Mifed are made in the major foreign territories on big pics that already have domestic deals. Last year it was German buyers who stole the [...]

LONDON Forget for a moment about Intermedia's splashy announcement that it will co-finance 'Terminator 3' and 'Basic Instinct 2.' Forget, too, how Initial Entertainment Group waltzed into London with a [...]

BERLIN At Mifed 1999, Germany's new generation of entertainment congloms flashed their Neuer Markt cash and tipped off a spirited round of dealmaking that immediately had industryites wondering when the […]

HOLLYWOOD Constantin Film and Intermedia have pacted to co-finance and distribute 'Resident Evil,' directed by Paul Anderson ('Mortal Kombat'), and 'Slap Her, She's French,' directed by Evan Dunsky. 'Resident Evil,' [...]

BERLIN Producer Arno's Ortmair's MediaFonds 1 is launching a "backend" fund to support films stuck for financing to complete production. Backend will initially offer up to $10 million to films […]

Germany's IN-Motion buys vet Brit sales outfit After 22 years of feisty independence, J&M Entertainment, the U.K.'s oldest film sales company, has been sold to IN-motion, a little-known German media [...]

German distrib Helkon Media is set to take a majority stake in the U.K.'s Redbus Film Distribution, giving the pan-European ambitions of Germany's upstart distribs a more concrete form. Deal [...]

GERMANY German companies' pivotal role in the consolidation of the worldwide kidvid biz was demonstrated again as local player TV Loonland last week acquired Sony Wonder's production and distribution businesses. [...]

Spain's Arbol Group, the biggest indie TV producer in the Spanish-speaking world, has inked a production deal with Mexico's Multivision (MVS), one of the country's leading pay TV operators. Set [...]

BERLIN German media giant the Kirch Group will try its hand at reality TV through 'Taxi Orange,' which follows a group of people trying to hack it as cabbies. Kirch [...]

German conglom made its mark with global linkups BERLIN Celebrating its third decade in business this year, vertically integrated media house Tele-Munchen Group stands in a league of its own. [...]

BERLIN Tele-Munchen Group is getting more productive -- in features and TV series, that is. New partnerships are beginning to kick in, and there's a newfound desire to step up [...]