SPIN takes its vision to Vancouver, creating a new studio, SPIN West VFX. The new studio (SPIN is headquartered in Toronto with another shop in Atlanta) has hit the ground running, landing vfx work on the much-anticipated television miniseries STEPHEN KING'S KINGDOM HOSPITAL. Close behind the Stephen King production is work for STARGATE SG1 (Sci Fi Channel) and SPYMATES (Keystone Pictures).

13 member-companies of TV France International will be presenting programs at the Second Regional Showcase in Beirut at the Sofitel Gabriel, April 20 – 21, 2004. To date, 44 executives, representing Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, and Tunisia, have confirmed their presence. The Film and Television sections of the French embassies in Amman and Beirut are supporting the event, which is aimed at promoting the French productions in the Near and Middle East.

Dean Valentine, former UPN president/ceo and president of Walt Disney Television, has partnered with prominent entertainment execs Richard Cohen and Nicolas Van Dyk to form First Family Entertainment in Los Angeles. The new company will develop and produce niche-oriented, direct-to-DVD/video programming for family audiences. The new venture already has inked a home video distribution deal with MGM.

Roy Disney sued the Walt Disney Co. on April 8 to release information on how many employees participated in last month's protest vote against the reelection of chief exec Michael Eisner, the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported.

In the suit filed in Delaware Chancery Court, Disney asked the court to make the company show documents, records, proxies and ballots from the annual meeting in Philadelphia.

Visual effects vet and former Secret Lab head Hoyt Yeatman has formed Whamaphram Prods. to produce CG animated features, reported VARIETY. Burbank-based toon house will specialize in completely animated and hybrid live-action/animated films.

The new studio is pitching its first project G-FORCE to several studios. The live-action family adventure would chronicle the NSA's top secret unit of highly intelligent, talking animals. Yeatman plans to direct the film.

The voice cast of THE SIMPSONS has stopped working to force Twentieth Century Fox TV to finalize their new contracts, reported VARIETY. The cast's previous three-year contracts expired several months back. Apparently, the cast has not showed up for two script readings over the past few weeks. Actors participating in the stoppage include Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Comic Book Guy), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns and others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart).

Announced at MIP-TV, independent animation studio Mike Young Prods (MYP) announced the formation of Taffy Ent., the new business unit dedicated to the rights management and worldwide distribution of family and children’s entertainment. Mike and Liz Young and Bill Schultz created Taffy to own and represent its library as well as to actively seek to acquire rights to other animation properties.

Comcast Corp. announced that it has signed an agreement with Vulcan Programming Inc. to acquire TechTV Inc. Comcast plans to merge TechTV with G4, the Comcast-owned television network devoted to videogames and the gamer lifestyle. The deal increases Comcast’s content portfolio and expands G4’s distribution. The combined channel will be available to 44 million cable and satellite customers nationwide.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy dismissed the 13-year-old lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. brought by Stephen Slesinger Inc., the owners of the Winnie the Pooh merchandising rights, after concluding that they "tampered with the administration of justice" by hiring a private investigator to take documents from Disney's trash bins. Monday’s ruling spares Disney from having to pay royalties and damages that might have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Disney.

With the acquisition of the company by former Nelvana execs Michael Hirsh and Toper Taylor complete, Cinar's name has been officially changed to Cookie Jar Ent. The once publicly traded company will now be a private entity. The principals include Hirsh and Taylor along with Steve and Patty Carson, TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). The overall Cookie Jar Group also includes leading education companies Carson-Dellosa and HighReach Learning.