Aardman Animation, Cartoon Network, Nelvana and the National Film and Television School, U.K. film and animation school, have formed the Animation Committee to discover and support European animation talent. The organization will review toon shorts quarterly. The best of those shorts will be aired on Britshorts.com. Some of those shorts will be selected for further development in film and television.

Entertainment Rights plc has announced the creation of their home video company Right Entertainment. Along with its recent US$22.5 million acquisition of Link, Right will enable Entertainment Rights to exploit its properties around the globe in all mediums. In turn, Entertainment Rights has signed an exclusive deal with Universal Pictures Video UK to release its properties on video.

Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. has released its financial results for the second quarter ended June 29, 2001. Total sales for the quarter were US$48.1 million compared to $25.6 million for the second quarter of 2000. Net loss for the quarter was $5.1 million, or $.50 per share, compared to a net loss of $52.3 million, or $5.58 per share, in the prior year. For the six months ended June 29, 2001, sales totaled $87.7 million compared to $71.5 million for the same six months of 2000.

Santa Monica-based Zeros & Ones, a media holding company with digital convergence operations in technology, content and production, has announced that it has reached a final settlement agreement with Steve Schklair, former director and officer. The company filed an action against him in Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2000. Schklair was terminated earlier that same year by act of the board of directors.

As the mergers continue, Disney answers the AOL Time Warner and Viacom call and grows for the first time since the 1996 Capital Cities/ABC merger. On Saturday, July 21, 2001, the LA TIMES’ Sallie Hofmeister reported that the Walt Disney Co. will buy Fox Family for $3.3 billion plus assume $2.1 billion of the troubled venture’s debt. Long in the rumor mill, this new acquisition is supposed to be final and announced within a few days according to Ms. Hofmeister’s sources. Obviously the true value for Disney in this deal is obtaining the fifty international Fox Family channels.

Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. has announced profitable results of US$0.2 million in earnings before an extraordinary gain on net revenues of $38.6 million for its third fiscal quarter ended June 2, 2001. These profits were achieved before the gain of $7.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, from the early retirement of $13.9 million principal amount of the 10% convertible subordinated notes.

San Francisco-based Western Images is restructuring to focus solely on visual effects, CGI, design direction and creative editorial services. Facility services, which include the linear edit suite, Henry, telecine and video service bureau, will be retired. In addition, the company will expand its efforts in long-form broadcast and feature film effects. As a result of the restructuring, five people were laid off. Four were related to fax work and the fifth was executive producer Ken Solomon. "Kenny (Solomon) worked very hard and was very good.

Tele Munchen Group (TMG) has made an offer to buy out CEO and co-founder Thomas Haffa's 43% share of EM.TV. The offer is reported at DM250 million (US$109 million). However, media giant Kirch Group reportedly has a first-look option for Haffa's stake after it bailed out the troubled company by purchasing a 25% stake this past spring. Former EM.TV exec Nickolaus Becker, who pushed a TMG bail out over Kirch, is shepherding TMG's proposal for Haffa's share. Currently, EM.TV holds a 45% stake in TMG, but it has to sell it in order to get regulatory approval for its alliance with Kirch.

Film Roman has announced that it is stopping its live-action feature development division. Feature division president Mitchell Solomon and production VP David Jung have been let go and their responsibilities have been given to Film Roman president/CEO John Hyde and TV president Peter Schankowitz. This move marks Film Roman's desire to refocus on its core animation business. No word was given on how this decision will affect the live-action projects already in production including the adaptation of the TV series THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO for Disney.

Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. has announced its best financial results ever. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, the Vancouver-based company reported earnings of CA$2.4 million or $0.14 per share compared to $0.84 million or $0.05 per share for the year ended March 31, 2000. As expected, Mainframe delivered a total of 50 television episodes (27 episodes of HEAVY GEAR and 23 of ACTION MAN) as well as its first direct-to-video, CASPER'S HAUNTED CHRISTMAS. The firm recorded revenues of $39.9 million compared to revenues of $32 million for the previous year.