Mainz and Barcelona – Ahead of Asia TV Forum 2014, ZDF Enterprises and GoldBee have signed a raft of sales from the ZDFE.junior slate of programmes across the region. ZDF Enterprises and GoldBee partnered in order to manage and distribute ZDFE.junior’s programme catalogue and consumer products in Iberia, Latin America and Asia.
Thailand’s MCOT acquired free TV rights of 195 half hours of ZDFE.junior’s successful award winning teen live action programmes, including international hit H20 – Just Add Water (78×26’, AACTA Award nominee, AFI Award winner and nominee, Kids’ Choice Award nominee, Logie Award winner and two-time nominee), Dance Academy (65×26’, three-time ADG Award winner, three-time AFI Award nominee, Banff Rockie Award nominee, iEmmy Award nominee, Logie Award nominee and two-time winner) as well as The Elephant Princess (52×26’, AACTA Award winner and Logie Award nominee).
In a further agreement, MediaPrima (Malaysia) picked up the free TV rights for the first two seasons of H20 – Just Add Water (52×26’), and Spectrum Films acquired free TV rights for all three seasons along with the three TV Movies of the same series for Sri Lanka.
In Singapore, HBO Family Asia acquired pay TV rights for South East Asia, India and China of Mako Mermaids, season 1 (26×26’) along with Bafta Award winning series Wolfblood season 1 and 2 (26×26’) .Okto acquired free TV rights of animated comedy Rusty Knight (52×13’), live action adventure comedy Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures (26×26’) and also renewed animated detective series Sherlock Yack Zoo Detective (52×13’).
Finally, pre-school favourite and British Animation Awards nominee Q Pootle5 (52×12’), which airs in the UK on CBeebies and has been sold to more than 70 countries worldwide, was acquired for free TV rights in Taiwan by PTS.
Christophe Goldberger, Managing Director at GoldBee, said, “ZDFE.junior has one of the strongest offering of kids programmes in the industry, from high quality pre-school properties to animated comedies and adventures for kids, and outstanding teen live action dramas and comedies. It has been a pleasure to contribute to the expansion of these fantastic brands in Asia. During ATF, I will be looking at strengthening our established relationships with broadcasters in the region and find key partners in order to develop our presence on digital platforms.”
Peter Lang, Vice President ZDFE.junior, said, ”We are delighted that Christophe Goldberger gives a new impetus to our activities in Iberia, Latin America and Asia thanks to his vast experience and excellent customer contacts.”
Goldberger will bring a number of brand new productions to ATF 2014 in order to further expand the rich offering from the ZDFE.junior catalogue for the region, which includes over 40 series already.
Heading up the list is animated series Marcus Level (52×13’). When Marcus gets the latest version of his favourite video game, he suddenly finds himself switching places with video game hero Gorbar the Magnificent. It’s obvious that things aren’t going to be easy neither for Marcus, nor for Gorbar in Marcus’ home! The series is a co-production between Mondo TV France, ZDF Enterprises in collaboration with TF1.
The Skinner Boys (26×22’) is a comedy, action, adventure series about 3 brothers and their spirited teenage cousin, Tara. They are the Guardians of the Lost Secrets, sworn to protect the world’s most hidden mysteries. As the anonymous Guardians of these artefacts, Tara and the boys must dedicate their lives to protecting them against the forces that would use their powers for evil and endanger the planet. The series is produced by SLR Productions in co-production with Telegael, Top Draw, Super RTL, Channel Nine and ZDF Enterprises.