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 8x1hour cooking competition series Beat The Chefs, which is produced by RelativityREAL, and 8x30mins Pure Gold, which sees customers offered cash for their gold items and stories.

Formats being sold include Instant Recall, Friend or Foe, Love Triangle, Wintuition, Late Night Liars and Ballbreakers.

The deal was struck by Miles and Steven Brunell, executive vice president, operations and chief financial officer, GSN.

Brunell said: “The timing is right for us to be taking GSN’s formats and new series to the international market. Many of the formats continue on air and are now in multiple seasons with a proven track record on our network. We look forward to working with Passion Distribution and sharing in the success of our programming with the international broadcast community.”

Miles added: “We are very excited to be working with GSN. As well as the new reality series we will be launching at MIPCOM there are some very long running successful game shows for which we will be discussing both format potential and completed series with our buyers at MIPCOM. There is such a demand for good value content that can be stripped in the schedules, especially the dating and relationship shows which will keep the audiences entertained and also provide the potential to create local versions.”