CME Inks Cross-Territory Format Deal

HAMILTON, November 8: Central European Media Enterprises
(CME) has optioned The Kids Are All Right,
a game-show format from Endemol-owned Initial, for all six of its territories:
the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Romania and the
Ukraine.

The deal for The Kids Are All Right, which premieres on BBC One in January 2008, is
CME’s first cross-territory option agreement in years. The format sees adults
taking on children in a studio quiz.

“We believe that the idea behind The Kids Are All Right has universal appeal and can adapt well in our
territories,” explained Maria Rakhmatullina, CME’s manager for regional
projects development. “This is one of very few formats we have found so far
which could work in all six of our countries and fits our stations’ need for
all around family entertainment. We operate in six markets in the CEE and
whilst all are very different, they share a commonality in a constant need for
good entertainment formats. Our acquisitions strategy remains local. However
when the right idea comes along, group deals certainly make a lot of sense for
us and we are looking to be doing more deals of this kind.”

CME has also announced positive results for the latest round
of local format adaptations in the Ukraine, Slovakia and Croatia. The
Russian-language remake of the Romanian telenovela hit Tears of Love began broadcasting on the Ukraine’s 1+1 channel in
September as a daytime strip Monday through Friday. The show delivered nearly a
five percent average rating and netted between a 17 and 20 percent share in the
18-plus viewing segment. Tears of Love was originally developed by Media Pro Pictures and produced for Acasa, CME’s female-skewing broadcaster in Romania.
Ukrainian production company Film UA had been commissioned to produce 150
hour-long episodes of the series for local audiences, which airs under the
title Lawless Heart.

The local adaptation of Rose Garden Surgery is also performing well in Slovak Republic on TV
Markiza. It is based on the original series Rose Clinic, which aired for several seasons on TV Nova in the
Czech Republic. CME and Media Pro Pictures have also rolled out the Romanian
sitcom Neighbours Forever in
Croatia on Nova TV. The Croatian version is based on Media Pro scripts and has
aired for nine seasons on CME-backed Romanian broadcaster Pro TV. The Croatian
remake launched on September 24 as a weekday series under the local title Susjedi.

—By Irene Lew