AETN Finishes Strong from MIPTV

NEW YORK: 102 Minutes That Changed America, Steven Seagal: Lawman and Ice Road Truckers all notched up strong sales for AETN International at MIPTV.

102 Minutes That Changed America was picked up by C4 in the U.K., France 5, ZDF in Germany and TV4 Group in Sweden. The program, which chronicles the 9/11 terrorist attacks, performed well on History in the U.S. and the U.K.

Steven Seagal: Lawman, which follows the action star in his real-life role as a deputy sheriff in Louisiana, will debut later this year in the U.S. on A&E Network. It has been acquired by MTV3 in Finland and RTL Klub in Hungary, with several additional agreements pending.

Ice Road Truckers continues its global success, with seasons one and two scoring a pickup from RTL-TVI and VTM in Belgium, while SKAI in Greece went for season one and MTV3 in Finland took season two. Season three was scooped up by Viasat in Norway and TV4 in Sweden. Ice Road Truckers is the highest-rated series to air on History in both the U.S. and the U.K., and is a strong performer on the network across other European territories, Latin America and the Asia Pacific. The show has also been licensed to a number of broadcasters across Europe, Canada and Asia Pacific, including Five in the U.K.

AETN closed a number of deals of other shows across Europe and Asia Pacific. Planète in France took on a number of series, including Life After People, The Exterminators, Female Forces and The Interrogators. Planète also went for two specials, Nostradamus 2012 and Secret Access Air Force One. N24 in Germany licensed a package that included the series Evolve. In the U.K., Chellozone Reality picked up seasons five and six of Intervention. In Asia, Jurassic Fight Club went to Jin Zhou City TV in China for its Amazing Science block, and Star Channel in Japan scooped up a package of episodes from the Biography series.

“We are extremely pleased with the results of our most successful program sales market ever,” said Sean Cohan, the senior VP of international for AETN. “We closed a raft of deals and expect to close many more in the coming weeks. While our industry is facing challenges as a result of the global recession and we are far from immune, we are confident that our content will continue to resonate with broadcasters and viewers.”