CEE, NZ Deals for BBCWW

CANNES: BBC Worldwide announnced sales agreements in Central and Eastern Europe and New Zealand at MIPCOM this week on a variety of titles in its extensive slate.

The company has clinched deals covering 14 broadcasters across CEE. Announcing the agreements, Heike Renner, BBC Worldwide’s territory manager for Central and Eastern Europe, said: “A combination of package and output deals will see over 750 hours of BBC Worldwide’s content shown in more than a dozen countries throughout the territory.  We’re really excited to be working with such a variety of different broadcasters and having our programming viewed by audiences throughout the breadth and width of Central and Eastern Europe.”

BBC Worldwide has made its first HD sales in Russia, with First HDTV taking 55 hours of content, including Cranford and Gavin & Stacey. Another first is a deal with Channel One Worldwide Telecafe, covering all of Eastern Europe for content that will be either dubbed or lectored into Russian. Plus, Russia MTV has bought the entire series of Ab Fab and Scallywagga seasons one and two as well as some factual titles for a new doc slot.

Elsewhere, TVP2 in Poland renewed a news and current affairs output deal, while Canal+’s Domo acquired more than 50 hours of home and gardening programming and sister service Kuchnia took 50 hours of cookery titles. Romania’s TVR 1 and 2 bought 250 hours featuring Doctor Who, Primeval and other titles, and TVR Cultural Channel acquired over 160 hours of back catalogue. ETV Estonia and B92 in Serbia have bought mixed packages, including Life and Moonshot. Viasat in Lithuania licensed Hotel Babylon for TV3 and TV6.  HRT Croatia re-upped for a current-affairs output deal totalling 24 hours. Georgian Public Broadcaster, meanwhile, opted for WWII: Behind Closed Doors. Rounding out the CEE deals is Hallmark picking up Being Erica for Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, Russia, CIS & Baltic States, Hungary (which includes Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Slovakia, Serbia & Montenegro, Hungary and the Czech Republic) and Africa. 

In New Zealand, meanwhile, BBC Worldwide secured deals on almost 200 hours of content. TVNZ’s pickups include The City Addicted to Crystal Meth, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Air Medics, Celebrity Masterchef, Famous Rich & Homeless and Tribal Wives. Prime Television took 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep, 10 Things You Need to Know about Losing Weight and his new series aiming to discover just how much science can improve his life: Make Me…  Subscription broadcaster Rialto Channel, meanwhile, acquired Soundproof, Last Resort and Later…With Jools Holland. Almost 70 hours will air on Living Channel and Food TV, including Why Are Thin People Not Fat?, 50 Things to Eat Before You Die, Gardeners’ World 2009 and The Hairy Bikers—Mums Know Best. Finally, the Documentary Channel scooped up 40 hours including Inside the Saudi Kingdom, The Satanic Verses Affair, Did Darwin Kill God? and a comprehensive selection from the BBC’s seminal science strand Horizon.

“The immense variety of our content is key to our ability to license such a broad range of programming across such a diversity of platforms,” said Robyn Campbell, BBC Worldwide’s sales manager for New Zealand. “We’re pleased to bring such a calibre of programming to New Zealand audiences.”