Parthenon Concludes Factual Deals at MIPDOC, MIPTV

LONDON, May 2: Parthenon Entertainment has concluded a raft of factual
deals at MIPDOC and MIPTV with broadcasters throughout Europe, Asia and the
U.S., securing particularly strong demand for its wildlife programming.

In terms of deals for its wildlife programs—the
majority of which are produced in HD—South Korea’s KBS and Switzerland’s
SF picked up the one-hour Octopus Volcano.
Produced by Germany’s Tesche Films, the program is a unique portrait of a group
of octopuses that are able to make predictions about when Stromboli—the
volcano they live on—will erupt. The one-hour Bug Brother, which was co-produced by Parthenon Entertainment and
France’s Mona Lisa, was licensed to Kabel 1 in Germany, YLE in Finland and TVB
in Hong Kong. The Megafalls of Iguacu, a one-hour BBC Natural World special about the world’s biggest and
most remote collections of waterfalls, was sold to France 5, U.S. HD pay-TV
network VOOM, Duna TV in Hungary, and TVP in Poland.

On the history front, La 7 in Italy has acquired the
3×1-hour mini-series Ancient Megastructures, which debuted at MIPTV. Produced
by Darlow Smithson, the series looks at how three of the world’s most enduring
super-buildings were constructed.

At MIPTV, two history titles from the S4C International
catalogue—the one-hour Romance in Stone and the 6×1-hour Ancient Discoveries—also fared well. Romance in Stone has been licensed to ATV in Hong Kong, UBC in
Thailand, TVP Poland, TVR Romania and Canadian HD channel Oasis. Produced by
the U.K.’s Alfresco Production, Romance in Stone examines the buildings and monuments dedicated to
love. Meanwhile, Ancient Discoveries has been picked up by Al Jazeera, Spectrum TV for Hungary and the Czech
Republic, Wuhan TV in China and Taiwanese conglomerate Chi Mei. The series has
also been re-licensed to The History Channel in the U.S. DVD rights for the
series have been granted to Koch Entertainment in the U.S. and Art-S in The
Netherlands. Produced by the U.K.’s Wild Dream Films, the series looks at
amazing inventions from the past.

Peter Pas, the commercial director at Parthenon
Entertainment, commented: “Parthenon has an established reputation as a
producer and distributor of high quality factual programming and we always
benefit from having a broad range of genres to sell because it allows us to
take advantage of different programming trends. At MIPTV we noticed a
particularly strong demand for our wildlife programming, no doubt helped by the
fact that virtually everything we produce in-house is made in HD. It’s also
good to see that the recent trend for reality shows has not eclipsed demand for
the classic documentary.”