Disney-ABC Announces European, Latin American Deals

CANNES, April 7: On the first day of MIPTV in
Cannes today, Disney-ABC International Television announced several deals,
including the extension of an agreement with ProSiebenSat.1 Group and the
production of Colombian versions of Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters.

In Germany, ProSiebenSat.1 Group has licensed the
German free-TV rights for future TV entertainment from Disney-ABC International
Television. This output deal includes a wide selection of hit Disney content,
including feature films, network series and Disney Channel original movies.
ProSiebenSat.1 channels will broadcast the German free-TV premieres of movies
such as Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, kids and family content like Camp
Rock and The
Cheetah Girls: One World, as well as new seasons of ABC Studios series, including Private
Practice, Grey's
Anatomy and Dirty
Sexy Money.

Under a separate agreement with ProSiebenSat.1’s
online video portal maxdome, the companies have also closed their first deal
for SVOD movies, among them Toy Story 2, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. ProSiebenSat.1 and Disney-ABC
have also scored a transactional VOD deal for current and library titles
including Ratatouille and Enchanted, and new seasons of ABC Studios series like Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. These agreements build on the
companies’ existing successful SVOD partnership for these series.

Disney-ABC also today announced a new agreement
with Russian broadcaster CTC Media. The multi-year deal covers the
licensing of features, live-action series, animated series and made-for-TV
movies. CTC Media and The Walt Disney Company began their successful
cooperation with a three-year licensing contract in 2004 that included features
like Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, classic
Disney animation and top-rated ABC Studios TV series.

The new deal will see CTC
broadcasting Disney content in its daily kids’ block, including animation like Aladdin and Kim
Possible and live-action original series such as Hannah
Montana.

Also in Europe, Disney-ABC
has licensed the reality series The Fashionista Diaries to Fiver
(previously known as Five Life) in the U.K. The original SOAPnet series from
the U.S. chronicles the lives of six young assistants in the fashion world.

Disney Media Networks Latin America also announced
today the signing of a strategic agreement with Vista Productions and RCN to
produce local versions of Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters in Colombia. The deal follows the
success of Desperate Housewives’ local versions in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil
and the U.S.-Hispanic market.

The Colombian versions of Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters will be produced by Vista
Productions and will follow the format and scripts of the original versions.
Pre-production for the new local series will begin in mid-April.

—By Mansha Daswani