Nordic World strikes RTL, ZDF, Disney deals

Formats distributor Nordic World has agreed several deals with German partners.

Commercial broadcaster RTL has acquired a pair of formats. It will air local versions of comedy format Hotel Zimmerfrei (pictured) as well as a pilot of reality show Family Dinner, which comes from the catalogue of Absolutely, the formats company Nordic World acquired earlier this year.

Billed as ‘Schillerstrasse meets Fawlty Towers’, the German Hotel Zimmerfrei will be produced by Warner Bros.-owned Eyeworks and HPR B&T. The Family Dinner format sees warring families attempt to reunite over a family meal.

German pubcaster ZDF has also taken an Absolutely format, Checkpoint. The kids show, billed as ‘a mix of pseudo-science, light-hearted learning and good old-fashioned fun’, was created by Dutch pubcaster EO and airs on its Zapp channel in the Netherlands.

Free-to-air kids channel Disney Germany, meanwhile, has licensed 100 Days of Being Nice. The format was created by Denmark’s Gong and sees a host attempt to reintroduce politeness through a series of events.

The six-episode German version will be fronted by an as-yet-unnamed celebrity and be produced by FremantleMedia prodco UFA.

Jan Salling, Nordic World’s chief operating officer and director of sales, said: “The German television market is not only the largest TV market in Europe, but one of the most fiercely competitive. To have closed four format deals with three of the territory’s most powerful broadcasters is a tribute to the strength and diversity of our catalogue — and solid proof that the merging of Nordic World and Absolutely Independent has created a powerful new player on the international formats market.”