WAG Wars spearheading Comcast formats push

Comcast’s E! Entertainment has created a new series in which sportsmen’s Wives And Girlfriends (WAGs) compete against one another. The reality series, WAG Wars, will be shopped as a paper format as E! Entertainment owner Comcast International Media Group attempts to ramp up activity in the formats business.

Two existing series, Perfect Catch and Reality Hell will also be pushed to buyers as formats.

“We’ve started to develop formats, which is something we didn’t do before,” CIMG senior VP, Duccio Donati, told TBIvision at the NATPE trade fair in Las Vegas.

“Previously, the formats business was dominated by a few big companies, but that’s no longer the case. Now formats are produced across the board and for cable and satellite as well as free-to-air channels.”

CIMG is selling Reality Hell, which spoofs popular unscripted series, and Perfect Catch as formats and finished series at NATPE.

Perfect Catch is fronted by Carmen Electra and follows a group of good-looking people as they travel along the Greek coast, picking up people along the way. If those people pass various tests, they are allowed to stay on the boat for two weeks. “It goes to an attractive demo and the concept is universal – it’s a simple concept,” says Donati.