MIPTV round-up: Viacom shops titles to C4, TF1; Keshet sells raft of non-English language dramas

Viacom International Studios confirmed a raft of international sales for new scripted, comedy and animated titles at MIPTV.

The UK’s Channel 4 (C4) picked up new Comedy Central scripted series The Other Two, which was also nabbed by Foxtel’s Comedy Channel in Australia.

Viggo, an entertainment service in the Netherlands, has added AwesomnessTV titles Light as a Feather and Zac & Mia, along with scripted dramas Guidance and My Dead Ex.

In France, Lagardère Group has strengthened its existing relationship with AwesomenessTV. Having previously acquired popular series You’ve Been T@gged and Sleep Tight, the network will launch two new Awesomeness titles on its youth channel, Elle Girl TV, including Zac & Mia.

Elsewhere, TFI, has inked a deal for Nickelodeon’s brand new preschool series and Spin Master coproduction, Abby Hatcher.

Meanwhile, Norway’s commercial broadcaster TV2 has acquired MTV’s reality docu-series, Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club, to be made available on the Network’s SVOD platform, TV2 Sumo.

Lauren Marriott, VP international content sales, VIS, said: “We’re thrilled to announce so many fantastic deals here at MIPTV. With a sales slate brimming with new shows spanning Viacom’s portfolio of global brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and now Awesomeness, now more than ever, we are incredibly proud to offer something for every audience and every schedule.”

Keshet International signs raft of foreign language dramas

Keshet International has sold a raft of non-English language scripted titles including Stockholm, Sleeping Bears, Commandments, 7 Faces, False Flag 2 and When Heroes Fly.

CBC in Canada has picked up Artza Productions’ Stockholm (4 x 40’) for streaming service CBC Gem.

Globosat has acquired full broadcast rights to different Hebrew-language dramas Sleeping Bears (10 x 45’) and Commandments (S1 11 x 45’, S2 5 x 45’).

KI has also completed  its first sale abroad of the Turkish drama 7 Faces (7 x 50’) with SBS.  The Australian multilingual and multicultural broadcaster has acquired the on-demand rights to Bir Films’ title for SBS On Demand.

Alongside its global deal with Netflix for When Heroes Fly (1 × 80’, 9 × 40’), KI’s sales team has sold the non-exclusive SVOD rights for Spiro Films’ Canneseries winning thriller to PickBox in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, plus Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Keren Shahar, KI’s COO and president of distribution, said: “It’s an exciting time to be a distributor of quality foreign language drama.  The market is becoming more language agnostic and really opening up to content from all countries and continents.”

Scorpion TV enters doc deal with The Intellectual Property Corporation

London-based Scorpion TV has struck a representation agreement with Emmy Award winning prodco, The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC), an Industrial Media company led by CEO Eli Holzman.

Under the deal, Scorpion launched two new 10-part series at MIPTV – Fortune Fights and Notorious – both series premiered this month on US based cablenet Reelz.

In Notorious, this one-hour documentary series chronicles the lives of some of the most infamous crooks and criminals in American history. From Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to cocaine godmother Griselda Blanco to NFL star turned killer Aaron Hernandez, Notorious digs deep and goes inside the twisted minds of the criminals who made newspaper headlines and captured the attention of the American public.

Fortune Fights examines the careers, personal lives and legal battles of the biggest stars, both famous, and infamous. Husband and wife attorneys Danielle & Andy Mayoras illuminate the nuances of celebrity Fortune Fights from a legal perspective, examining issues such as pre-nuptial agreements and celebrity conservatorships.

From Johnny Depp to Britney Spears, Harrison Ford to Madonna, each episode tracks the story of how a star’s money was earned and later compromised through divorce, family dispute, publicity disaster or personal meltdown.

David Cornwall, founder and CEO of Scorpion TV said: “We set ourselves apart from the pack by hunting down sheer quality, and anything from the IPC stable is just simply smart, extremely well made, compelling television.”