MIPCOM: The Week in Factual

Lifting the lid on the plans for MIP LONDON last week in Cannes, RX France’s Lucy Smith highlighted that the February 2025 event will feature editions of MIPDoc and MIPFormats, two key calendar entries for the global unscripted segment. “We believe unscripted has huge potential that week, and we’ll lean into this,” Smith explained in her presentation. “The importance of MIPDoc and MIPFormats to their communities came through loud and clear after MIPTV ended.”

RX has assembled advisory boards to shape the agenda, which will see the first-ever London editions of the MIPDoc Co-Production Summit and the MIPDoc Pitch. “If you look beyond screenings and buyers, there is so much potential to broaden the offering,” Smith added. “For example, the combination of so many key players already in London, along with those coming in that week, make for an ideal opportunity to host a London edition of FAST&GLOBAL.”

FAST remains a vibrant area of opportunity for content distributors, and factual IP owners, in particular, are tapping into it by rolling out their own services. That was a key theme of the non-scripted deal news out of MIPCOM. Of note, BBC Studios announced a new deal with 9Network in Australia that includes the Home & Garden, BBC Earth, Top Gear and Antiques Roadshow UK FAST channels; Blue Ant Media revealed it was teaming with Pluto TV for the launch of two FAST channels on the free streaming platform in the U.S.; and Samsung TV Plus launched the TV5MONDE Voyage channel in France, with the TV5MONDE Info channel to follow in December in France and Italy. Samsung TV Plus also extended its relationship with ITV Studios to bring to German viewers Fluss Monster (River Monster) and, in collaboration with ZDF Studios, will launch ZDF zu Hause, featuring ZDF’s most successful home and garden shows.

BBC Studios had plenty of other news to share last week; the science and wildlife powerhouse signed an output deal with Dutch public service broadcaster NPO; scored new presales for two of its upcoming titles, including the landmark natural history series Asia; and announced unscripted packages across CEE and sub-Saharan Africa. BBC Studios also announced new factual co-pro agreements, aligning with JTBC for Deep Dive Korea: Song Ji-Hyo’s Haenyeo Adventure and China’s Guangdong Radio and Television (GRT) on Our Home: Wild Guangdong (w.t.).

In other high-profile co-pro news, Channel 5 boarded as the first broadcast partner for the Keshet International and SandStone Global production Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The three-part history docuseries, presented by Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, is based on Hughes’s eponymously titled book.

Access docs tagged to milestone events remain paramount to broadcasters and streamers. Tsunami: The Day the Wave Hit was among the highlights on offer from BossaNova, with the company clinching deals on the two-part doc, marking the 20th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, with Viasat World, SVT and Radio-Canada. All3Media International signed its first round of presales with broadcasters across Europe, Asia and Australia for Trump: The Criminal Conspiracy Case, including with DR, NRK, SVT, Movistar Plus+ and Nine Network.

In the factual-entertainment space, meanwhile, All3Media International landed agreements across Europe, Australia and Asia for Lion TV’s upcoming documentary Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Eating. Cineflix Rights sealed multiple deals with international broadcasters and platforms for the long-running franchise Château DIY, including CBC, Nine Network, TVNZ and RTL. AMC Networks International UK took all seven seasons of Braxton Family Values from GRB Media Ranch for AMC Reality, its reality-themed streaming collection on ITVX.

Catch up on these stories and more on TVReal.com.