TCB Notches Up Sales on Combat Franchise

CANNES: TCB Media Rights has landed a raft of U.S. and European sales, as well as presales, for Woodcut Media’s Combat Trains and Combat Ships.

Among the broadcasters to have acquired one or both of the series are Smithsonian Channel in the U.S. and RTL Germany’s n-tv. Combat Trains has been sold to TV Spektrum in Poland, FTV Prima in the Czech Republic and Auto TV in Russia and the CIS. The series, which looks at the pivotal role played by trains in the major wars of the past 150 years, debuted in November 2015 on A+E Network UK’s H2.

Germany’s n-tv and Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (for Japan) have also pre-bought Combat Ships, which follows a similar template to Combat Trains by examining the impact of naval vessels on the course of world history. France RMC Découverte also acquired the series, which is set to premiere on H2 in the U.K. in early 2017.

Kate Llewelyn-Jones, the managing director of TCB Media Rights, said: “This flurry of deals for the Combat titles—and I’ve seldom seen such interest in a franchise—is proof of the pent-up demand for premium factual content about military and naval history. On the back of such success, establishing a development partnership between TCB and Woodcut seemed an obvious next step. Nobody tackles factual content with more truth, balance and authority than Woodcut. With their creativity and our commercial acumen, we are confident we can achieve great things.”

Kate Beal, CEO of Woodcut Media, said: “The TCB team are right on ‘track’ when it comes to selling Combat Trains and Combat Ships into key territories as these deals demonstrate.  We are absolutely thrilled with the interest in this series that highlights the ongoing demand for high-end factual docs.  We are also delighted to be extending our relationship with TCB and working more strategically on development over the coming months. The TCB team has an excellent understanding of broadcaster needs and coupled with our creative strength in factual programming we’re excited to take new projects to the market together. It’s formalizing a great partnership and Woodcut is proud to call TCB our friends and allies.”