FME Strikes Deal for Universum Docs

LONDON, December 1:
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has signed a two-year deal with the Austrian Broadcasting
Corporation (ORF) for its Universum strand of documentaries,
taking on the international distribution rights to four titles per year.

FME
will hold worldwide rights to the programs, excluding the U.K., the U.S.,
Canada and German-speaking Europe, and will also have first option in DVD
rights negotiations. FME has already selected three titles: From Freezer to Furnace, Drakensberg and O Two. The 50-minute From
Freezer to Furnace explores how humans and wildlife will adapt to extreme
climate conditions on earth. Drakensberg,
or Dragon Mountain, journeys to the mountain range in South Africa to look at
animal survival. O Two uses CGI and
live-action reconstructions to follow the journey of an oxygen molecule,
spanning thousands of millions of years.

Walter Köhler, the head of Universum
at
ORF, said, "I am delighted to
start this new partnership with FME. Their track record as one of the leading
distribution companies worldwide will further strengthen the outreach of the
Universum brand and will help us to continue to produce the outstanding quality
in the field of high-end factual programming the audiences worldwide expect
from ORF-Universum."

FME's
VP of programming, Mark Gray, added, "Universum is at the top of its game, it is one of the most highly regarded
factual programming strands in world and deservedly so. Having a broad spectrum
of factual programming is important to FME and we are very pleased with this
addition and to be working along side Universum."

—By
Kristin Brzoznowski