As TV networks are getting more involved with overseas formats, 20th Century Fox TV has sealed a production and programming pact with ITV, the top-rated U.K. commercial television network. Fox can tap ITV's roster of shows for development in the U.S., while ITV can do the same with Fox fare in the U.K. ITV has already begun work on a British version of "Dharma & Greg," the 1990's sitcom. The two companies have also launched a joint development fund to create new programming to produce together or separately for international distribution. "We're interested in expanding our reach around …

French financier Vincent Bollore says he wants to get full control of French market research firm CSA and could take part in the consolidation of the research sector. Bollore, whose media empire spans from Havas and Aegis to free newspapers, says he is also interested owning a radio station and a second digital terrestrial television channel in France. The chairman of Havas made his comments to reporters on the sidelines of the Cannes Lions 2008 advertising festival. He volunteered that Havas could afford to spend about $155 million to $230 million (100-150 million euros) per …

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida was the only U.S. newspaper picked to be on a list of top 10 newspapers in the world that "best illustrate the evolution of newspaper design and how it is beginning to relate more to the Web." The World Editors Forum, part of the World Association of Newspapers, compiled the list in a survey of five top newspaper designers. Other papers on the list include The Guardian in Britain, Poklitiken in Denmark, Bergens Tidende in Norway and Eleftheros Typos in Greece. "A trend is developing in which elements of newspapers' …

As media strategists forecast that sponsorships will grow as a valued, non-intrusive form of marketing, MEC Access and MindShare Performance have jointly created a research tool that helps clients evaluate consumer affinity for sponsored events. Called PartnerZ, the tool allows a client to identify the sponsorships that best fit its brand and target audience. The tool depends on data collected by Millward Brown on the arts, music, film, festivals, entertainment and sports in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, China and India. The WPP-owned agencies decided to conduct the research because sponsorship investments have grown to …

One of the country's largest custom publishers, McMurry is launching its own unsponsored magazine as a way to use the insights it has gathered producing magazines for clients. It's titled 6 referring to readers' six passion points: wealth, style, travel, design, body and health. It will go to 100,000 wealthy households starting in November. Says editorial director Catherine Gunderson, "This isn't a just a [print] magazine with a Web site. This is about how can we make it fresh and build something that advertisers and readers told us they want." 6 will incorporate an experiential component into the …

India's Reliance Big Entertainment is in talks with DreamWorks SKG to spin off a new movie joint enterprise. For $500 million to $600 million, Reliance will get a stake in the Hollywood company and a pact allowing it to make movies with DreamWorks. The deal is part of a Bollywood trend. In the past 18 months, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures and Paramount have signed contracts with Indian entertainment companies. Last month, a division of Reliance made deals to produce and develop movies with Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt. Bankers in India say funding for …