FIC Scoops Up Portman Film & Television’s Underbelly

CANNES/LONDON, April 9:
Fox International Channels (FIC) has acquired the Australian drama Underbelly from British distributor Portman Film &
Television, part of the Digital Rights Group (DRG), for broadcast on branded
networks across more than 50 countries throughout the world.

The series will air across
territories that include the U.K., Italy, the Balkans, Korea, Portugal, Russia,
Turkey and Pan Asia. The 13×1-hour Underbelly was produced by Screentime for Australia’s Nine
Network, in association with the FFC. The series chronicles the story behind
Melbourne’s infamous gangland killings—a 10-year war between rival
factions of the city’s criminal underworld that shocked Australia. Its recent
broadcast in Australia was the most successful local drama launch in the Sydney
region and nationally in the 25-to-54 demographic since the OzTam ratings
system was introduced, and was the number one program of the night for all
people in all the markets that it aired: Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

—By Irene Lew