Zodiak Rights, the international division of Zodiak Media, has licensed the format of Zodiak Media’s Killer Karaoke in Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Kazakhstan, which brings the total number of territories to air local versions to twenty-nine.
Highways International Productions is producing 13 x 60’ episodes of Killer Karaoke to air in Egypt, UAE and Lebanon. Filming recently commenced in Beirut and the first episodes will air in primetime slots in Egypt on AL HAYAH TV, UAE on ABU DHABI AL OULA and Lebanon on MTV. Zodiak has also inked an agreement with Kazakhstan’s NTK who are producing and broadcasting 12 x 60’ episodes of the hit format in a primetime slot.
Killer Karaoke
Killer Karaoke has been a hit around the world with local versions produced in 29 territories in just 18 months. Commissions in 2013 included RTL5 (Holland), Muz-TV (Russia), Prima TV (Romania) Zee Tamizh (India), MCOT (Thailand), BHD Co., Ltd (Vietnam) Hang Meas HDTV (Cambodia) and TV5 in the Philippines.
Produced by Zodiak USA for TruTV and hosted by Steve-O (Jackass), the first U.S. series has now sold to over 100 countries including Germany (Comedy Central), New Zealand (TVNZ), Australia (Foxtel) and Africa (Sony Max).
Commenting on the news, Barnaby Shingleton, Head of Entertainment, Zodiak Rights said: “Killer Karaoke is the singing competition for our times; stripped back and played for laughs, it has proven itself tremendously adaptable regardless of the territory. From the U.S., to Latin America, to Europe and Asia, its roll-out continues to gather pace and we’re looking forward to further ratings success in the Middle East.”
Killer Karaoke is the evil adaptation of Zodiak’s Sing if You Can format, which has been sold to 50 countries to date, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Brazil. Zodiak Rights retains worldwide distribution rights to Killer Karaoke.