MUMBAI: US cable network USA Network has finalised a cast contingent pilot order for the hour-long period genre series Horizon.

USA also recently announced the pickup of five series from the summer slate of original drama series - Suits, Burn Notice, White Collar, Royal Pains and Covert Affairs as well as the start of production on the new gritty original drama Graceland.

Bowing in summer 2013, Graceland is from White Collar creator Jeff Eastin and the series stars Daniel Sunjata, Aaron Tveit, Vanessa Ferlito, Brandon Jay McLaren, Manny Montana and Serinda Swan.

The Universal Cable Productions? project with Valhalla Entertainment is the first new pilot from executive producer Gale Anne Hurd since the Golden Globe-nominated ?The Walking Dead?, which comes from her studio deal. Valhalla VP of Television, and Kris Henigman, Director of Development Stacey Levin shepherded the project.

Set during the height of World War II, ?Horizon? centers on a secretary at the FBI who discovers that her husband might have been killed in a battle with a spaceship in the South Pacific. Obsessed with learning the truth, she becomes the only person standing between Earth and an alien invasion. Gale Anne Hurd will executive produce Horizon with writer and co-executive producer Bridget Tyler (Burn Notice).

USA Network co-presidents Jeff Wachtel and Chris McCumber said, ?Horizon is our first genre piece since THE 4400 and the first ever period drama for the network. This signals the next step in the evolution of our programming brand.?

MUMBAI: In a major setback for French entertainment group Vivendi Universal, a US jury ruled that it must pay $954.6 million in damages to Liberty Media Corp in a 2003 breach of contract lawsuit.

The dispute arose out of a commercial transaction between the parties in December 2001 when Vivendi agreed to buy the entertainment business of Barry Diller?s USA Networks for $10.3 billion.

As part of the transaction, Liberty Media received 37.6 million Vivendi shares for its stake in USA Networks and an European television production company.

However, in 2003 Liberty Media filed a lawsuit in a US court claiming that Vivendi misled it about a liquidity crisis at the company, artificially inflating the value of its shares, which it used to make the purchase.

Meanwhile, Vivendi said that it strongly disagrees with the decision by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

"The Group intends to pursue all available paths of action to overturn the verdict or reduce the damages award," the company said in a statement. "Vivendi believes that there are many grounds for appeal and continues to believe strongly that it did nothing wrong and will continue to vigorously defend itself in any subsequent appellant proceedings."