Passion


‘Lady Boss’ producer Passion Docs appoints head of development

UK-based prodco Passion has appointed Cathal McElhinney as head of development for its Docs team. In his new role, McElhinney will be responsible for building a slate of single docs and series for the producer, which is behind recent titles including The Real Charlie Chaplin and The Rescue. Launched in 1987 and led by founder […]

BBCWW takes Pests and Rich Kids into Africa

Passion Distribution has shopped a raft of content to BBC Worldwide in the wake of the recent Discop Africa market. Worldwide acquired a package that includes Rich Kids of Social Media and UKTV’s pest control series Deadliest Pests Down Under (pictured) for its channels in the region. The deal also included Firecracker Films’ one-off Channel 4 […]

TBI DISTRIBUTOR SURVEY 2016: SVOD boom, stacking issues?

Netflix and its streaming counterparts have shaken up the traditional TV market in an unprecedented manner. For the free TV players Netflix is a viewing threat and rival for the best programming, for pay TV it is both these and a cord-cutting threat. For distributors SVOD is clearly a boon. Last week CBS boss Les […]

Buyers line up for RuPaul’s Drag Race

Passion has sold US drag queen competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race to a host of broadcasters. Discovery’s female-skewed TLC channel has acquired it for Germany and Turner’s TruTv has snagged UK rights. In Brazil, pay TV channel operator Globosat has picked it up for its Multishow channel. In Canada, the OutTV specialty channel has bought […]

Nat Geo buys pair of Passion’s magic shows

The US National Geographic Channel has acquired two magic series from UK-based distributor Passion. Nat Geo has bought 4x60mins The Happenings (pictured) in which a pair of magicians convince unsuspecting residents in towns across the UK and US that mysterious events are occurring. It has also picked up season two of Dynamo: Magician Impossible, featuring […]

UKTV moving into international programme sales

Multichannel group UKTV will start to distribute some of its original shows directly and will be speaking to potential partners as soon as MIPTV, its head of programme distribution/strategy has told TBI. UKTV used to have a distribution output deal with BBC Worldwide, but in recent times has worked with a range of other distributors […]

GSN strikes Passion deal

US cable network GSN has struck a deal with international distributor Passion to represent its original series. The move will mark the expansion of Passion Distribution’s formats business; Sally Miles’ firm has previously sold some formats but will now be launching six new formats at MIPCOM, in addition to GSN’s finished tapes. Passion will represent […]

The Weather Channel strikes passionate distribution deal

US cable network The Weather Channel has struck an international distribution deal with Passion Distribution for its slate of original factual series. The broadcaster has been growing its primetime schedule with a number of documentary series including Iron Men and Braving The Elements. Passion already distributed The Weather Channel’s Lifeguard! through a deal with LMNO […]