NBCUniversal Acquires Canada’s Chef in Your Ear for Asian Region

SINGAPORE: Bomanbridge Media has secured an agreement with NBCUniversal for the pan-Asian broadcast of the Canadian version of the cooking show Chef in Your Ear on its lifestyle channel Diva in pan-Asia.

NBCUniversal Asia has acquired the finished Canadian program, which was a top show for Food Network in Canada in fall 2015. Chef in Your Ear is also available as a format. South Korea’s CJ E&M recently renewed its local version for a sophomore season, while Mongolia’s Mongol TV licensed the format rights as well.

Chef in Your Ear sees two award-winning chefs help amateurs prepare top-notch dishes. The catch is that the skilled cooks cannot enter the kitchen, and instead must coach the novices with instructions delivered through an earpiece.

Sonia Fleck, the CEO of Bomanbridge Media, said, “Bomanbridge is pleased to bring NBCU the entertaining hit series Chef in Your Ear. This hot cooking competition show, which is also a format, is enjoying tremendous success on important channel brands such as Food Network in Canada and CJ Media in South Korea. This unique take on the cooking genre will be sure to please viewers in the region.”

“The Format People are delighted that Chef in Your Ear is reaching an even wider audience in the Asia region,” said Justin Scroggie, the CCO and partner at The Format People, creators of the show. “At the heart of every episode is an amazing journey where regular people with no cooking skills or confidence discover the secrets and the joy of producing tasty food, and want to share it with their families—all thanks to the chef in their ear! We are confident that NBCU will enjoy as much success with the show as the Food Network has.”