NBCU cooks up Top Chef deals

NBCUniversal has sealed new deals for its Top Chef format with free-to-air broadcasters in Europe and Asia, TBI has learned.

The show, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges, has been picked up by La Sexta in Spain and SCTV in Indonesia, which will both air local versions. The SCTV agreement is the first format deal for NBC in south east Asia.

The Spanish version will go out in September.

Carmen Ferreiro, head of programming at the La Sexta parent group Atresmedia said: “We have been looking for a cooking format and Top Chef just felt like the right fit. We love the fast pace of the show and the originality of the challenges.”

The version for SCTV, Indonesia’s largest terrestrial, at an unspecified point in the third quarter.

The format deals mean there are now ten local versions in production with broadcasters including M6 in France, Food Network in Canada and RTP in Portugal all taking the show. It has also been optioned Italy, Sweden, Mexico and Brazil.

The show originated on NBCU’s Bravo and Dave Serwatka, VP current & cross platform productions, at the US cable channel said: “We wanted to make the show something that folks in the restaurant industry would respect.

“It’s our priority to maintain a high standard of culinary expertise amongst all of our ‘chef’testants’. The show has created a food culture with undeniable credibility given that we’ve had the best of the best in the industry on our show.”