NGTI Bolsters Third-Party Producer Alliances

LONDON, July 10: National Geographic Television
International (NGTI) has signed deals to represent new programs from
Welsh-based independent producer Green Bay and Canadian outfit Cirrus Media.

Rescuing The Past: The Step Pyramid, Egypt is a one-hour special highlighting the work of Welsh
company Cintec, which has developed technology to strengthen defective sections
of the collapsing Step Pyramid in Saqqara, one the oldest pyramids in Egypt.

Jet-Man, a two-parter
from Cirrus Media, follows Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy as he attempts to fly
across the English Channel with only a single jet-propelled wing on his back.
The first hour is an evergreen documentary supported by the technical,
scientific, historic and human aspects of Rossy’s adventure. The second hour is
a live broadcast of Rossy’s attempt to cross the English Channel, following the
route taken by Louis Bleriot, the French aviator who first crossed the Channel
in an airplane almost a hundred years earlier.

Joining these acquisitions is a new show from 360 Degree
Films, the Australian producers of Seed Hunter, which NGTI launched at MIPTV this year. Murder in the Snow tells the true story a 2006 murder of a young
Tibetan nun who was crossing the Himalayas while trying to reach India for a better life. BBC,
Danmarks Radio, YLE Finland, RTBF Belgium and TSR Switzerland are already on
board as partners on the special.

Edwina Thring, the head of acquisitions and co-productions
at NGTI, said: “It is great for NGTI to have struck up new relationships with
excellent producers such as Green Bay and Cirrus—and of course we are
very pleased that 360 Degrees Films has returned with a new project. These
three very different programs will make valuable additions to our catalogue
over the coming months. Jet-Man combines
science and adventure, while Rescuing the Past combines science with ancient history. All three
areas are favored topics for NGTI. Murder in the Snow is a current-affairs program with a twist, and given
the continuing exposure of human rights issues in Tibet and controversy over
its Chinese control, we are hopeful of significant interest in the
international marketplace.”

—By Jackie Stewart