Sales round-up: Euro nets take TVF titles; Foxtel claims ‘Deadly Deception’; Starzplay reels in ‘Ramy’

Classic Car Rescue

Arte, France TV takes TVF series

European broadcasters including Arte, France TV and cablenet Planete+ have picked up more than 100 hours of programming from factual distributor TVF International.

Arte has acquired Empires of Silver (3 x 60 minutes) for its Sunday night primetime slot, with the show produced by Matchlight and exploring how silver has shaped global history around the world.

The Franco-German broadcaster also took rights to Basquiat: Rage to Riches (1 x 52-minutes), while France TV has added the 10th season of The World From Above (14 x 26 minutes), nine seasons of Thailand From Above (2 x 60 minutes), Vietnam From Above (1 x 60-minutes) and Laos From Above (1 x 60-minutes).

Elsewhere, FOX Voyage has added Aerial Asia (4 x 60 minutes) to its slate, while Planete+ has licensed Smart Cities (8 x 23 minutes), PBS’s Extreme Realities (1 x 54 minutes), and David Attenborough-narrated Wild City (4 x 60 minutes), produced by Singapore-based Beach House Pictures.

Other deals saw RMC Decouverte buy Blink Films’ Classic Car Rescue (14 x 60 minutes) and TF1 Group’s Histoire licensing an array of history and arts titles including Channel 4’s Jesus’ Female Disciples (1 x 47 minutes) and BBC’s The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun (1 x 60 minutes).

Foxtel, TF1 fall for Deadly Deception

Foxtel in Australia and TF1 in France have bought Deadly Deception (6 x 60 minutes), the Cineflix Productions series originally made for Investigation Discovery in the US.

The show presents real-life stories of everyday reunions that end in murder and is distributed by sales arm Cineflix Rights, which has also sold the second season of Homicide: Hours to Kill to Foxtel. The Cineflix Productions’ show, originally for A+E Networks UK, follows investigators as they piece together events during the final 24 hours of a victim’s life.

It has also been picked up by A+E Networks Germany’s recently launched Crime + Investigation channel, and Bell Media Canada, while TV4 in Sweden has bought the show’s first season.

Other deals have seen Foxtel, RTL Germany’s Nitro, and A+E’s Crime + Investigation channel in Germany and Iberia acquire the second season of Secrets of the Morgue. Produced originally for A+E UK by Cineflix Productions, the show explores high-profile murder cases from the perspective of the medical examiner.

Starz claims comedy Ramy for Europe

Ramy

US-based cabler Starz has added comedy series Ramy to its Starzplay streaming service in Europe after striking a deal with parent company Lionsgate.

Ramy is produced by US-based A24 and has been co-created by comedian Ramy Youssef, who also stars.

It tells the story of a 20-something, first generation Egyptian-American who is on a spiritual journey in his politically-divided New Jersey neighborhood.

The show will be added to Starzplay in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg, having being acquired from Lionsgate Worldwide Television Distribution Group.

Ramy debuted on Hulu in the US last April and has since been picked up for a second season. The first run will launch on Starzplay in the UK on August 30 before being rolled out elsewhere later in the year, and joins fellow acquisitions Killing Eve, The Act, Harlots and the upcoming Batman prequel Pennyworth on the Starz-owned streamer.

Lionsgate acquired Starz in 2016 but the cabler’s future was thrown into doubt earlier this year when reports emerged that US broadcast giant CBS was eyeing a potential takeover bid for the company. In May, Starz boss Chris Albrecht revealed he was stepping down from the business after almost a decade.