Deadline.com: Global Showbiz Briefs: ‘The X Factor’ Musical, Bertelsmann’s RTL Plan, MipTV

Deadline.com

Global Showbiz Briefs: 'The X Factor' Musical, Bertelsmann's RTL Plan, MipTV Mar 17th 2013, 02:45 ‘The X-Factor’ Musical Headed To London’s West End The show’s creator Simon Cowell has granted permission for a London stage version of the TV singing competiton. Cowell and Sony Music’s joint venture Syco Entertainment are partnering with Stage Entertainment UK (Oliver!, Hairspray, Singin In The Rain) to launch the musical next year, Reuters reports. What they’re calling an affectionate poke at Cowell’s TV show, X Factor – It’s Time To Face The Musical! will hit London’s West End in early 2014. British comedian Harry Hill is writing with Steve Brown handling music and Sean Foley is directing. Story centers on fictional character Chenice who finds herself and her talking dog in line waiting for an audition that will change her life. Bertelsmann To Reduce RTL Stake To Raise Cash German TV and publishing group Bertelsmann, Europe’s biggest media company, plans to reduce its stake in RTL Group to 75% from 92.3% to raise money for an overhaul of its business. That means Bertelsmann could sell as much as 17.3% of RTL which would have a market value of more than €1.5 billion ($2 billion). Luxembourg-based RTL owns TV and radio stations in 10 contries across Europe. Bertelsmann will sell the shares by means of a so-called re-IPO process, which is similar to an initial public offering except that RTL is already a pubicly traded company. RTL’s rarely traded free-floated shares amount to about 7% of the total, so Bertelsmann needs to educate potential investors in order to get the best price. Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and Credit Suisse are running the sale, according to Reuters. Bertelsmann aims to expand into digital content and into emerging markets to complement its sagging publishing business, where it is planning a merger with Pearson Penguin. 50 Years Of MipTV Presents A Show For Each Year Celebration of MipTV’s 50th anniversary will highlight 50 shows that have shaped the history of television worldwide over the past half-century. Content tracking company The Wit has selected 50 emblematic shows, one for each year starting from 1963. From the ’60s shows include the  Japanese anime Astro Boy, quiz show Jeopardy and cult series Star Trek. From the 1970s, the shows selected are ITV’s Coronation Street, game show The Price is Right, soap opera The Young & The Restless and German police series Derrick. Additional series highlights from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and more recent hits will be unveiled soon. In parallel to its anniversary, MipTV is renewing the MipCube event themed the Future of TV. New talent will be showcased in the Content 360 Pitch Competition for transmedia producers and creative agencies. MipTV takes place April 8-11 in Cannes.

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