TVF Lands Raft of Sales Across Asia

TVF International has closed a slew of deals across Asia, including one that sees the history miniseries Empires of Silver heading to the South Korean pubcaster MBC.

Discovery Asia picked up the pan-Asian rights to Chef Exchange (10×30 min.), Singapore on Film (2×60 min.) and Beach House Pictures’ access-driven two-parter Raffles: Remaking an Icon. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera picked up the one-offs Pakistan’s Fake Degree, Dying for Gold and Fighting Slavery from Space for its 101 East strand.

The newly launched pan-Asian channel Tech TV has raided the factual distributor’s business and technology catalog, picking up programs including seasons nine and ten of the Emmy Award-winning CBS series Innovation Nation, as well as CNBC’s Pop Up Start Up (6×50 min.).

The Japanese public broadcaster NHK licensed the HD and 4K rights to BBC Four’s A Year in an English Garden for its satellite and cable feeds, in addition to NAME, the broadcaster’s VOD platform.

In South Korea, pubcaster MBC picked up a package of seventeen 4K hours, which also includes The World’s Most Powerful Telescopes (in addition to Empires of Silver) for MBC TV. The Korean Forces Network picked up a package of military titles, including the Burning Bright-produced Channel 5 series Raw Recruits (10×45 min.). Soom Channel, which recently started broadcasting on the KT Olleh IPTV network, picked up a package of lifestyle content that includes RTE’s Painting the Nation (2×60 min., 8×30 min.). Aceone Media also licensed the rights to Bloomberg’s Peer to Peer, and YNTV picked up Gold: The Story of Man’s 6,000 Year Obsession (2×52 min.).

In Hong Kong, TVB licensed a package of programs, including the one-off Singapore’s Secret Forests with David Attenborough, the six-parter Thailand’s Grand Spaces and the short-form series 101 Easy Japanese Recipes.

In the Philippines, Mediacorp’s Glamping Adventures (8×30 mins.) and season five of Luxe Asia (10×30 min.) have found a home with ABS-CBN, the country’s largest broadcasting corporation. Meanwhile, Cineplex Thailand has acquired Sky Italia’s Hidden Italy (15×25 min.), RTE’s Building Ireland (12×25 min.), ABC’s The Bikes of Wrath (6×50 min.) and the CBC one-off The New Science of Food.

In Vietnam, national broadcaster VTV licensed a package of 70 hours of programming, and Fim Plus signed a 4K package deal that includes Prime TV’s Ocean Predators (4×44 min.) and season two of Animal Planet’s Dog’s Best Friend (12×22 min.). Pay-TV broadcaster SCTV snapped up a 54-hour package, including several short-form cooking series such as Video Cookbook and Simply Delicious, as well as the space series Cosmic Odyssey (6×52 min.).

In Malaysia, Astro has picked up rights to a number of 4K programs, including Beach House Picture’s Aerial Asia (4×60 min.), the ARTE-commissioned Isles of the Queen (10×60 min.) and the BBC science two-part special The Amazing World of Gravity.