Sat.1 comedy moves to Amazon

Amazon Prime Video has become the new home of German comedy Pastewka, which previously went out on commercial broadcaster Sat.1.

Amazon confirmed the series is to become an Amazon-branded original, after the news surfaced on local media sites.

The comedy, which has been billed as the ‘German Curb Your Enthusiasm’, is going back into production this summer and will debut next year.

ProSiebenSat.1-owned Sat.1 has broadcast the series since 2005, totaling seven seasons and nearly 70 episodes to date.

Banijay Group-owned Brainpool produces the series, which follows stand-up Bastian Pastewka playing a fictional version of himself.

Amazon has been making an aggressive push into German originals since the announcement of its debut series there, You Are Wanted, a year ago.

That series is getting full international distribution on Amazon’s now-global platform, making it the first German original to get such a launch.

News that the SVOD service had secured the second season of Deutschland 83, titled Deustchland 86, made waves in August. A third effort, Deutschland 89, is expected to follow.

This latest development is another example of Amazon and SVOD rival Netflix commissioning new seasons of show that previously went out via traditional, linear broadcasters.

Netflix revived Arrested Development and The Killing after their networks had ended them.