Fredrik af Malmborg


Trendwatch: East to West

Turkish drama has already conquered Latin America and is now expanding into Asia, where synergies look set to pave the way for mutual cooperation and co-productions. Richard Middleton reports Few trends have stuck like the growing appeal of Turkish drama. Rewind a decade or so, and the thought that scripted series from the country would […]

Why Eccho Rights looked for scale in CJ ENM

Newly acquired by Korean media powerhouse CJ ENM, Stockholm-headquartered distributor Eccho Rights is to expand into new markets and drive more co-productions between Korea and Europe in 2019.  Fredrik af Malmborg, co-owner of Eccho Rights, has told TBI that the distributor, best known for Turkish drama, has extensive international expansion plans as a result of […]

South Korean first for Turkish drama

South Korean channel GTV has acquired what it claims to be the first Turkish drama series to air on Korean television. GTV will show the title, Phi, in November as it looks to introduce Turkish drama to the Korean market. The channel focuses on a female audience with a line up of lifestyle, cookery and […]

Eccho poaches Imagina sales boss

Eccho Rights has hired Laura Miñarro as director of coproduction and scripted. Miñarro joins from Spain’s Mediapro, where she was general manager of the Imagina International sales operation. She also served as VP, international copro at Mediapro’s Globomedia. At Eccho she will be based in Madrid and work alongside Lat Am and Iberia chief Barbora […]

SVT buys Turkish drama

Swedish pubcaster SVT has acquired another Turkish drama from Scandinavia-based distributor Eccho Rights. Having already taken two Eccho-distributed Turkish series, SVT has now licensed Broken Pieces (Paramparça), which Endemol Shine Turkey produces for Star TV. The series will run daily for 20 weeks in a 7.30pm slot on STV2 the autumn, with SVT’s team in […]

Eccho brings in ex-Endemol Shine sales exec

Eccho Rights has brought in former Endemol Shine International sales director Dorit Schilling and a new drama development exec, Karin Strandberg Blom. Schilling (pictured) will sell Eccho Rights’ programming in German-speaking Europe  and will also handle acquisitions and coproduction activity in these territories. Schilling started her TV career at BBC Worldwide before moving to ITV, […]

Change at Sparks Eccho as Keshet nabs Asia boss

Sparks Eccho Group has found a new Asian chief, with former incumbent Gary Pudney (pictured) moving to launch a new Hong Kong office for distributor Keshet International. Local market veteran Nixon Yau Lim has joined Sparks Eccho Group as head of Asia. Pudney, meanwhile, has joined Keshet Media Group-owned KI in the new role of […]

Eccho poaches Imagina exec for Lat Am role

Eccho Rights has hired Barbora Susterova to become its first head of Latin America. Susterova (pictured) joins the Spark Eccho Group-owned distributor this month from Spanish giant Imagina, where she has handled sales of territories including Latin America for the past eight years. Eccho has recently sold Turkish drama Ezel into ten Latin American territories, […]

Sparks Network winds down

The global formats group Sparks Network is ceasing to operate in its current form, with the executives behind it focusing their attention on the growing Eccho Rights distribution business, TBI has learned. Sparks is a network of production companies that develop formats at a local level that are then shared in the group and distributed […]

African, Indian firms buy Eccho’s Turkish drama

Broadcasters in Africa and an Indian entertainment firm have acquired Eccho Rights’ widely-travelled Turkish drama Ezel. Viasat has acquired rights in Ghana and Tanzania, while India’s Wizcraft is planning a local version after scoring a deal with Scandinavia-based Eccho. Eccho Rights, part of the Sparks Eccho Group, last year became the first distributor to sell […]