Munich producer/distributor H5B5 has picked up a minority share of New York’s Unapix Entertainment

Munich-based Peppermint has picked up the exclusive Asian distribution rights for 4,500 hours of ZDF Enterprises programming. Peppermint has also gained worldwide rights to The Russian Federation State Fund of Television archive, a library consisting of 250,000 titles

In Chicago, Encyclopaedia Britannica has announced it will make its collection of educational films and stock video available to the media

Discovery and ZDF have announced an extended partnership, with the German pubcaster adding a one-hour Animal Planet and BBC Science block into its primetime schedule

In the U.S., Fox may have eschewed sensationalism on its airwaves, but the broadcaster has launched the website TooHotForFox.com to help fill the void

TF1 in France has announced it will set up a subsidiary to control its thematic digital channels. Among other services, the TF1 Digital roster will include Odyssee and Shopping Avenue, and will likely see the launch of a personal finance channel and a documentary channel

Explore International, the co-venture between Nat Geo and Canal+/Docstar in France, has gone online with www.explore-intl.co.uk

Australia’s Beyond Distribution has opened a New York office

Spiderdance, the tech company behind MTV’s WebRiot game show, has agreed to create a show for The History Channel. History IQ will allow surfers to play for prizes and learn something in the process

Speculation suggests the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will lay off as many as 700 before the end of the 2002-2003 season

Discovery is underwriting efforts to locate the USS Indianapolis, a WWII cruiser that was sunk by the Japanese after it had delivered parts for the atomic bomb

Unapix Home Entertainment has united sales and marketing operations with A-Pix Entertainment

Zone Vision Enterprises and UPCtv have launched Reality TV into Turkey on the DigiTurk platform

London’s Moving Image Communications has appointed Photobank as its representative in Thailand and the Far East

The New Projects Network now offers a finder’s fee option for payment rather than its traditional flat fee

Montreal’s Motion International has changed its name to TVA International, to reflect the company’s recent acquisition by the TVA Group of L.A./Toronto