DCD dips into £10 million fund to buy TV rights

The distribution division of UK indie group DCD Media has taken sales rights to a raft of third-party programming.

DCD Rights, previously called NBDtv, said last August that it was managing a £10 million (US$16.2 million) fund that it will use to deficit fund production in return for rights. It has now said it will invest in five third-party shows.

These include two BBC productions, 5x45mins daytime drama Land Girls and 1x90mins Breaking the Mould, about the discovery of penicillin.

The other shows are A Model Daughter, a 1x90mins drama about the death of a young model, produced by Screentime for Australia’s Network 10; 3x60mins fact-ent series Half Ton Teen, produced by Megalomedia for TLC in the US; and 6x30mins CollegeHumor, the offbeat comedy produced by MTV for MTV US.

“In a time of rising deficits and tighter budgets we believe that, for the right project, we can add value on a number of levels not least in helping to bridge the gap between a broadcaster licence fee and a producer’s budget,” said Pilar Perez, DCD’s US-based senior VP of acquisitions.