MIPCOM: Day one deals

The traditional flood of press releases TBI receives the minute MIPCOM begins has revealed deals for producers, broadcasters and distributors around the world, and suggests a healthy market can be expected.

New British distributor Drive has secured presales of Super Scary Plane Landings with NTV in Germany, Nine Network in Australia, Discovery Networks Canada, TV2 in Denmark, MTV in Sweden and RTL in the Netherlands.

Another UK-based company, Raw TV, has seen three-part doc series My Miracle Wedding (WT) greenlit for production by commercial broadcaster ITV, while across the Channel French doc net RMC Découverte has bought Giant Constructions – the World’s Most Spectacular Bridges from Germany’s Quintus Media.

On the kids front, Genevieve Dexter’s Serious Lunch placed upcoming animated action series Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter to Amazon in the UK and US as a branded original. Deals for the Studio Ghibli-produced show have also closed with Yowu in Spain, VRT in Belgium, Canal Once in Mexico and Jeem TV in the Middle East.

American Greetings Entertainment and Gaumont Animation are coproducing a 52x11mins adaptation of 1980s girls brand Herself the Elf. They are co-distributing and debuted the property to buyers at MIPJunior over the weekend, news that came over the weekend at MIPJunior, where Swedish kids channel SVT Barnkanalen took 13x25mins kids series Kosmoo and two seasons of pre-teen fantasy show Night Watch from Belgium’s Studio100.

Elsewhere, Zodiak Rights has secured a batch of presales for season two of Versailles, which last night won Best Series Launch at TBI’s Content Innovation Awards.

Another big ticket European drama, Midnight Sun, has found new buyers. ZDF in Germany, SBS in Australia, HOT in Israel, NRK in Norway, DR in Denmark, RUV in Iceland, MTV3 in Finland, VRT in Belgium, and Lumière in Benelux have all bought the dystopian action drama from Studiocanal.

Back on the subject of Amazon, the platform’s German service has been confirmed as the exclusive new home for Deutschland 86, which is the follow up to Deutschland 83. Free-to-air net RTL had commissioned season one, but Amazon has swooped for the new run, marking another sign of the SVOD player’s buying power.

Scripps Networks International is heading to market with 100 new titles from the likes of the Travel Channel and Food Network, while UK prodco Zig Zag and Japan’s ABC International, the format sales arm of Asahi Broadcasting Corp. are debuting Power of Fantasy, which was born out of a segment in Japanese late night show Be-Bop! High Heel!. The show’s international title is Tearway Toys.

Meanwhile, a Chilean contingent comprising Zumbástico Studios,Wood Producciones, Parox, Lunes Cine TV, Sallato, Larraín y Sabatini Producciones, and Demente Producciones are in town with CinemaChileTV, which is shopping 28 digital programmes from the South American country.

Today – officially the first day of MIPCOM 2016 – will see Kazuo Hirai from Sony Corp., Designated Survivor star Kiefer Sutherland, Sean Cohan from A+E Networks, and YouTube programming chief Susanne all delivering keynotes. TBI Stewart Clarke is hosting a panel session discussing the implications of the UK leaving the European Union on the international TV industry in Auditorium A at 11.15am local time.