Continuing its rapid growth, Chennai-based Pentamedia Graphics has acquired three additional India-based companies, including entertainment production house Media Dreams. Pentamedia purchased all three firms in a share swapping deal. Media Dreams produces television, theatre and Internet content and has recently expanded into post-production. The company boasts deals with Indian sci-fi writer Sujatha Rangaraja. In addition, Pentamedia has bought sports entertainment company, Krish Srikkanth Sports & Entertainment Pvt.

Incanta, a managed content solutions firm for broadband service providers (BSPs), has announced a new distribution deal with AtomFilms. Incanta's Cinema and Arts channel will feature AtomFilms' short films and original animation. Incanta's content services for BSPs include an award-winning personalized radio service as well as customized video offerings that range in subject from sports to film, from chat to music video. Incanta's other content partners include Quokka Sports, Vidnet, Planet Jam, AdventureTV and Academy Entertainment.

Children's TV executive Haim Saban has exercised his option for News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting to buy his 49.5% in the Fox Family Worldwide Inc. cable network. As part of the original agreement, each side will enlist an investment bank to determine the fair market value of the company. If the two numbers come within 10% of each other, the final purchase price will be the average of the two numbers. If they differ by more than 10% than a third bank will be brought in to mediate the settlement. Each parties' bank must determine Fox Family Worldwide's value by January 31, 2001.

Late Tuesday, December 19, 2000, Z.com filed suit against Chris Rock for repayment of fees in excess of US$1 million for content not delivered. In Z.com's filing, they claim that Rock and his Chris Rock Enterprises entered into a preliminary programming agreement on April 6, 2000 with a finalization deadline of June 30. Z.com then paid Rock $1.075 million on April 10, 2000 as promised. However, Rock quickly counter-sued Z.com and incubator idealab! for intentional misrepresentation, negligence, breach of a written contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

EM.TV's stock price made a hefty jump upward on Monday, December 18, 2000 after announcing a creditors' banks' backing. Over the weekend the kids production and merchandising firm had positive meetings with 40 creditor banks to help fund a company overhaul as part of media house KirschGroup's purchase of a non-controlling share in EM.TV. The company's stock jumped up 18% to finish out Monday at 6.73 euros (US$6). Since February, EM.TV shares have lost 90% of their value after the company reported accounting errors in its acquisition of the Jim Henson Co.

Cinar Corp. announced that it has finally come to settlements with Canadian federal and provincial tax officials over the repayment of improperly obtained tax credits. Scandal hit the Montreal-based company in the fall of 1999 when fraud allegations were made in the House of Commons claiming that Cinar was placing false Canadian names on scripts written by U.S. writers to gain tax credits. Subsequently, the firm's co-founders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg and CFO Hasanan Panju were fired.

Sesame Workshop and Sony Pictures Family Entertainment have inked two big licensing deals for their PBS series DRAGON TALES. Kellogg USA has renewed its sponsorship of the series. Kellogg will be a strong presence in the advertising and marketing of the show, including positioning in the English and Spanish editions of SESAME STREET magazine and a link swap between Kellogg, Sesame Workshop and PBS' DRAGON TALES Websites.

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Rome production and distribution company Medusa Films has acquired financially strapped Italian toon house Lanterna Magica. The 20-year-old animation factory will remain under the watchful eye of executive producer Maria Fares and stay in its home in northern Turin. As part of the deal, Lanterna will produce an animated feature each year and an animated TV series for Medusa sister firm Mediaset every two years. Medusa CEO Federico di Chio will serve as president with Lanterna's Guido Manuli and Maurizio Forrestieri remaining in their roles as artistic and creative directors respectively.

iFilm has laid off 15 employees, or 10% of its staff. The move was made to release some pressure on the Netcaster's capital. The cuts were across many divisions and come on the heels of the firm's launching of three new projects – the iFilm portal, the relaunch of iFilmpro and an online testing business. In the past year, iFilm has purchased film industry business-to-business services such as Film Finders, the Hollywood Creative Directory, Lone Eagle Publishing and TV Tracker. However, rumors have flourished that the company is backing away from a b2b model and refocusing on content.

AntEye has closed its eyes and its doors. The Los Angeles Netcaster shut down on Friday, December 15, 2000 and laid off its 20 employees. The company decided to finally close up shop after finding a buyer was unsuccessful. Matti Leshem, company CEO, told the DAILY VARIETY, "The party is over. We're shutting for the same reason that everyone else has; the market can't support this kind of company.

On Friday, December 15, 2000, Stan Lee Media (SLM) stopped operations and laid off "substantially all of its [140 person] staff." The company will keep an executive core to look into possible new directions for the company including selling off the firm's assets. The move comes as a result of the Netcaster's plummeting stock and inability to raise a new round of financing. Early in December, SLM announced it had obtained US$2.2 million as a bridge loan until it could finalize a $40 million financing round.

Shockwave.com and AtomFilms announced they have signed a definitive merger agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, shockwave.com will acquire AtomFilms in a stock-for-stock deal giving Shockwave shareholders 70% of the combined company. In addition, Macromedia, parent of shockwave.com, will now own less than 50% of the new firm. The combined company will announce its new name at the closing of the deal.

On Thursday, December 14, 2000, the Federal Trade Commission approved America Online's US$111 billion acquisition of Time Warner. As part of the approval, AOL must open its high-speed Internet access to competitors. At least three Internet service providers (ISPs) must be offered when AOL/Time Warner enters a new market. "Our concern was, and has always been, about access," said FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky.

Berlin children's producer TV Loonland has bought a 65% stake in Seoul distribution firm Saerom Entertainment. Saerom is the third-largest video and DVD distributor in Korea and controls a leading Internet film portal, which it has been leveraging as a new means of distribution. TV Loonland will pay US$9.5 million for its share of the company, which foresees sales of $14 million and profits of $2 million for the year 2000. The move is yet another step in TV Loonland's global expansion, giving the company a strong distribution and Internet foothold in Asia.

The Walt Disney Co. has inked a deal with Japan's second-largest toy maker, Tomy Co. Ltd., to market, produce and distribute its toys and games in Japan. The exclusive deal does allow Tomy to sublicense certain products to other toy producers. The pact takes affect in April 2001. "This agreement completes a restructuring of our toy business that we began in September, when we established licensing arrangements with Hasbro and Mattel," said Andy Mooney, president of Disney Consumer Products Worldwide.

The Munich state prosecutor, Manfred Wick, has begun a probe into allegations that EM.TV, the German family production and merchandising company, has participated in insider trading and other stock market violations. The investigation will focus on EM.TV CEO Thomas Haffa and his brother, Florian, who recently resigned from company's board. This move comes on the heels of investors filing suit last week against the company after EM.TV cut its year-end profit forecast by 90%.

Creative Planet Inc., a business-to-business solutions firm for the film and TV production industries and parent company of Animation World Network, laid off 72 employees, or 20% of the work staff, on Wednesday, December 13, 2000. The move comes on the heels of the company securing US$30 million in financing from United News & Media PLC. "These reductions are unfortunate," said Creative Planet chairman and CEO Alan DeBevoise. "But we have acquired a number of companies, and as you're scaling and integrating and market conditions change, we have had to streamline the organization.

Fox Licensing and Merchandising will unveil a whole slate of new SIMPSONS inspired products at Toy Fair in February. Fox has struck a deal with USAopoly to turn the town of Springfield into the classic Monopoly game. Instead of coveting Boardwalk game players will seek out the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. This new Monopoly take off comes after the release of the hot SIMPSONS "Clue" game, which is selling out at various stores around the U.S. Six new Playmate interactive figures will be released including Sunday Best Homer, Moe, Nelson, Milhouse and Kamp Krusty Bart.

WireBreak Entertainment has restructured its business model to fight going under. As a result, the company has laid off most of its staff except for a few key executives. Started in October 1988, the company quickly moved from being a Web destination site to an online producer and syndicator. Now the firm is moving away from Web content and focusing on interactive television, television and film. Current projects will be outsourced to other production houses.