Sales round-up: Sky & Stan snap up ‘Sort of’; France TV & NBCU take kids shows; WOWOW wow-ed by Swedish ‘Honour’

Sort Of

Sky & Stan snap up ‘Sort of’

Sky in the UK, Stan in Australia, M6-Téva in France and the Nordic Entertainment Group have acquired the CBC/HBO Max original comedy series Sort Of, following deals with UK-based distributor Abacus Media Rights.

The 8 x 30-minute series is due to debut on CBC’s streaming services Gem and CBC TV in November, and in the US on HBO Max in the fall.

Produced by Sienna Films, the series is created by Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo, who also serve as showrunners and executive producers. Baig also stars, as a fluid millennial who straddles various identities from sexy bartender at an LGBTQ bookstore/bar, to the youngest child in a large Pakistani family, to the de facto parent of a downtown hipster family.

Jonathan Ford, MD at Abacus Media Rights, commented, “Sort Of is a big-hearted comedy drama of our time with wide appeal. We’re delighted that many of the world’s leading platforms and broadcasters have already acquired the series and look forward to announcing further sales in the coming weeks.”

Welcome To Cardboard City

France TV & NBCU take kids shows

France Télévisions and NBC Universal in MENA are among a slew of broadcasters to pick up a range of children’s programming following deals with UK-based Jetpack Distribution.

Jetpack has inked agreements for 163 hours of content for FTA networks across Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

France Télévisions has acquired the free TV and free video-on-demand (FVOD) rights for season two of comedy animated series Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed!, while Discovery Channel’s Frisbee in Italy has bought the free-to-air rights for pre-school animated show Yoko seasons two and three.

Radio Television Suisse in Switzerland has paid for the free-to-air and FVOD rights for Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! season two and comedy animation Kitty is Not a Cat season one, while NBC Universal in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has acquired the pay TV and SVOD rights for animated series Our Neighbors The Marsupilamis.

Telewizja Polska S.A. in Poland has signed a deal for the free-to-air, pay TV and VOD rights for Kitty is Not a Cat season three and pre-school animation Daisy and Ollie seasons three and four, while Pixel TV in Ukraine has acquired the free-to-air rights for pre-school animated show Boj and hit family-oriented animated series Talking Tom & Friends seasons one and two.

Ceska televise in Czech Republic has paid for free-to-air rights for puppet show Becca’s Bunch, while Star Channel in Greece has signed a deal for the free-to-air rights for Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! season one

Da Vinci Kids, which operates across the US, Europe, Central Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa has signed a deal for the free TV rights for live action reality show A Week to Beat the World, and pre-school live action show My Petsaurus for South Africa, while ABC in Australia has acquired the rights for animated cardboard blockbuster Welcome to Cardboard City.

Honour

WOWOW wow-ed by Swedish ‘Honour’

Japanese broadcaster WOWOW has acquired Swedish drama series Honour from international distributor Eccho Rights.

Produced by Bigster for Nordic Entertainment Group’s Viaplay, Honour will now occupy one of WOWOW’s Premiere slots on its WOWOW On Demand streaming service, where US and European drama series are showcased exclusively for Japanese viewers.

Yui Nakayama, international acquisition at WOWOW, commented: “Looking for gripping female-led series for our audiences, I was simply “wow”ed by Honour at first sight.

“Honour invites us into the heart of gender issues our society confronts, while perfectly creating its binge-worthy storyline. Although this series is set in Sweden, far from Japan, I strongly believe our audiences can relate to what this beautiful, yet brutal, crime series tells.”