Shine Sells Masterchef into New Territories

LOS ANGELES: The culinary competition format Masterchef has been sold by Shine International into seven additional markets, ahead of its U.S. premiere on FOX.

Shine firmed up sales with New Zealand’s TV One, Romania’s PRO TV, Greece’s MEGA and Fremantle Asia in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. Shine Group’s Rubicon, meanwhile, has been commissioned by TV3 in Norway to produce a local version. Masterchef has been produced by Shine TV in the U.K. since 2005. Masterchef Australia has been a breakout hit, and Shine France was recently commissioned for a prime-time version for TF1. A U.S. version will launch later this year on FOX. In Hungary, Viasat just wrapped its first season of Masterchef, while in New Zealand the show will premiere on TV One in February.

“At Shine International we’re always proud to set the stage for a hugely successful U.S. launch by building a series into a major hit around the globe,” said Chris Grant, the president of Shine International. “When we first obtained rights for Masterchef, it had no international footprint, but we saw its potential as an extremely dynamic and adaptable format in one of the hottest categories on the market. It is now the world’s biggest cooking competition format and there are no signs of it slowing down as it heads into France and the U.S.”