FME Bags U.K. Presales for Original Fare

LONDON, September 18:
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has secured a raft of presales with British
broadcasters for programs from Thom Beers’ Original Productions that focus on
blue-collar heroism: Black Gold,
Verminators and 1000 Ways to
Die.

The U.K. premiere rights
to Black Gold have been taken
on by Five, while The History Channel secured the second-window rights. The
show is set to air on both Five and Fiver, heading to The History Channel in
fall 2009. Verminators and 1000
Ways to Die have been exclusively
picked up by Virgin Media Television for Virgin1 and Bravo, respectively.

Justin Hatfield, FME’s VP
of sales for Benelux, Scandinavia, the U.K. and Ireland, said, “Shows offering
such original content as these are hot property! This is evident in their sale
to some of the U.K.’s biggest names in broadcasting.”

David Ellender, FME’s CEO, added, “These shows form part of a very strong FME slate
for MIPCOM this year. Armed with titles like this we feel it’s going to be a
very positive and exciting market indeed.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski