French Period Drama Versailles Clinches New Sales

LONDON: Zodiak Rights has scored a new raft of sales for the drama Versailles, following the series' record-setting debut on CANAL+ in France.

The Scandinavian premium pay service C More has picked up the period piece, bringing it to viewers in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. A deal was secured with RTBF for French-speaking Belgium, while VRT took on the show to air on Eén in Flemish-speaking Belgium.

The first episode of Versailles launched on CANAL+ to 1.07 million viewers, making it the best performance for an original drama on the network since 2013. The series will air on Sky Germany in early 2016. In the U.K., BBC Two will broadcast the first season next year.

Further sales for the CANAL+ Création Originale series include Creative Programs (a subsidiary of ABS-CBN) in the Philippines, NC+ in Poland and BTV Media Group in Bulgaria. Versailles was also presold to SquareOne Entertainment, a film marketing and distribution company in Germany, in addition to Telefonica for Canal+ Series Xtra and its SVOD services in Spain.