31 MAR 2021

ZDF ENTERPRISES AND OFF THE FENCE CONCLUDE MAJOR PACKAGE DEAL WITH UKTV

ZDF Enterprises and its wholly owned subsidiary, Off the Fence, have closed a major volume deal with UKTV, one of Britain’s largest commercial broadcasters, for two of its specialist factual channels, Eden and Yesterday.

31 MAR 2021
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“Costa Rica: The Rise of Nature”

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ZDF Enterprises and its wholly owned subsidiary, Off the Fence, have closed a major volume deal with UKTV, one of Britain’s largest commercial broadcasters. The deal will see UKTV acquire 40 hours of premium factual content for two of its specialist factual channels, Eden and Yesterday.

For example, ZDF Enterprises’ new World War II history documentary, “Frontlines” (8x50’), produced by Impossible Factual Ltd, will air on Yesterday, and Off the Fence’s own production, nature series “Wild Edens” (3x60’), on Eden.

As well as the sale of “Frontlines,” ZDF Enterprises has secured pre-investment  from UKTV for two natural history series, both for Eden: “Africa from Above” (10x50’), produced by Off the Fence, a stunning production covering every aspect of this fascinating continent, and “Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall” (5x50’), an enlightening series that looks behind the scenes at one of the largest great ape sanctuaries in Africa, produced by Off the Fence Productions for Curiosity Stream in association with ZDF Enterprises. Also licensed to UKTV for Eden is “Equator - The Line of Life” (3x50’), a three-part series exploring what is known in science as the “cradle of nature,” produced by Primitive Entertainment and Spiegel TV in association with ZDF, Arte, NHK, Discovery Canada, and ZDF Enterprises.

Off the Fence has also sold five nature series to UKTV as part of the deal. Those titles include “Wild Edens” (3x60’), “Costa Rica: The Rise of Nature” (3x60’), “Beasts In The City” (1x60’), “Animal Social Networks” (5x60’), and “Seasons in the Wild” (2x60’).

“I’m delighted that our long-standing partnership with UKTV has resulted in pre-sales of two fantastic series that are still in production, ‘Africa from Above’ and ‘Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall’. Both shows are produced by Off the Fence which is widely recognized for delivering top quality natural history documentaries,”  said Ralf Rueckauer, Vice President ZDFE.unscripted at ZDF Enterprises.

Stefanie Fischer, Managing Director Sales at Off the Fence, added: “It is great to see that a number of key titles from our catalogue will be entertaining UKTV’s viewers in the year ahead. I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy the journey these series will take them on, as nature is always full of surprises”.

●  CINEDIGM TAJES ZDFE'S “THE ISLAND” TO SCREAMBOX

Meanwhile, Cinedigm Corp announced that the company has acquired all North American rights to the coming-of-age, pandemic thriller “The Island” (formally titled “Sløborn”) from ZDF Enterprises. The series is slated to premiere on Cinedigm’s latest digital network acquisition, Screambox, a subscription-based video-on-demand service which is one of the country’s leading streaming destinations for horror movies and TV series.

“We are thrilled to bring ‘The Island’ to audiences this Summer. The acquisition of Screambox gives us the opportunity to pursue titles within this incredibly popular and diverse genre to an underserved audience. Horror has a history of originality and we are eager to seek out titles like ‘The Island’ and provide a subtitled and dubbed experience to horror and thrill-seeking super fans,”  said Yolanda Macias, Chief Content Officer at Cinedigm.

Robert Franke, VP ZDFE.drama at ZDF Enterprises, added: "In ‘The Island,’ a coming-of-age-drama and post-apocalyptic disaster thriller merge into a modern epic. In a radical, uncompromising manner, the series raises the question of what happens to us modern people when the thin varnish of our civilization collapses. It has all the hallmarks of a top-quality thriller".