UK based international distributor Scorpion TV has lined up sales for more than 100 hours of content with multiple international broadcasters across Central & Eastern Europe (CEE). The deals were brokered by Scorpion TV’s Sales Executive for CEE Ben Haines.
“In the last couple of years, our relationships with CEE broadcasters have deepened, because they know we have the hard-hitting, emotional documentaries their audiences love”, Haines said. “Reflecting our buyers’ changing requirements, we’ve also diversified into science, travel, food and music content, and this is also serving us well. But what runs through all our work is quality. We’ve spent the last decade building up a catalogue of which we’re immensely proud, and that focus on premium content is now paying dividends.”
ITVN – Polish broadcaster TVN’s international channel – has agreed a package deal covering a range of titles including Borderland, a timely original series in which average Americans are confronted with the realities of illegal immigration; Shelter, an intimate look at the work of the Veterans Resource Center in California from two-time Academy Award winning director Barbara Kopple; and True Cost, a ground-breaking documentary that shows the real cost of cheap clothing. TVP in Poland has also licensed True Cost and Dirty Games, a revealing insight into corruption in the global sports industry.
In Estonia, public broadcast ERR has picked up range of science and current affairs titles. Leading the package is Ever Wondered, a science series that looks at the bleeding-edge of science and technology, exploring subjects as diverse as DNA, natural disasters and space; and BBC One’s Brexit Means Brexit, produced by Oxford Films, exploring the bitter battle to govern the UK following 2016’s divisive referendum vote. While Hungarian broadcaster Echo TV has acquired 16 one-off current-affairs docs from Scorpion’s premium content catalogue to air on their recently revamped channel, which has now added factual content to its traditional news remit.
Lastly, Russian distribution company Studio U7 has licensed a package of titles for its multi-channel YouTube VOD platform, as well as for pay-TV channels across Eastern Europe. Titles covered by that deal include: Ever Wondered, which looks at the bleeding-edge of science and technology, exploring subjects as diverse as DNA, natural disasters and space; Zapped: The Buzz about Mosquitoes, which reports on the battle to prevent mosquitoes from spreading disease; Sheltered in Oaks, a depiction of the endangered Iranian squirrel; and Flying Rainbow, which looks at the oriental dwarf kingfisher, one of the most enigmatic and rarely filmed birds in the world.
