ARMIN LUTTENBERGER: “WE AIM TO SERVE THE NEEDS OF OUR BUYERS”

ORF-Enterprise has presence  in MIP Cancún with a wide range of titles from of all genres for all media, from award-winning Austrian crime movies and series to wildlife, history and science docs. “We are excited to be presenting our latest program highlights to broadcasters and digital content providers in Latin America,” said Armin Luttenberger, Head of Content Sales International at ORF-Enterprise to Señal News.

“While our award-winning wildlife documentaries and classical music highlights from Austria have always been in demand, the increasing volume of TV-series and movies in our offering has attracted new customers worldwide within the past seasons,” affirmed the executive. “We look forward to seeing the sassy housewives from ‘Suburbia – Women on the Edge’, the unfortunate weatherman in ‘Walking on Sunshine’, the investigator duo from our ‘Tatort’ crime-movies and other stalwart characters from our best-rated series and movies, delighting the audiences in these markets.”, described.

The ORF-Enterprise offer in MIP Cancún consists of a mix of different genres from its catalog. The company is showing  the season four of “Suburbia – Women on the Edge” and the second season of “Walking on Sunshine”. Also, the two recently completed documentaries from ORF’s premium nature and wildlife brand UNIVERSUM “Empire of the Vineyard” and “Corsica – Mountains in the Sea”  and the brand-new kids program “AHA! Museum of Adventures”. “We aim to serve the programming needs of our buyers with high-quality content from the rich portfolio of creatives from Austria and all over the world.”, asserted Luttenberger.

ATRACTIVE CONTENT FOR LATIN BUYERS

According to the executive, the documentaries from ORF’s UNIVERSUM strand and the NEWTON science line-up are thriving worldwide, also in Latin America. “Contenidos Publicos offers their Argentinian viewers a selection of UNIVERSUM wildlife documentaries like the multiple award-winning programs ‘The Canary Islands’ and John Murray’s ‘Wild Ireland - The Edge of the World’ as well as ‘Giants of the Atlantic – Azores’ and also ‘Highlife at Low Temperatures,” said. Also, the Brazilian broadcaster TV Cultura acquired the rights for a package of science-related documentaries from our NEWTON catalog and the Mexican SVOD platform MVS Net picked the first season of the TV-series “Suburbia – Women on the Edge”. “The four housewives can be seen all over Latin America in Spanish-speaking countries.”, added. 

OTHER SALES

“HUAWEI Video picking a package of TV-movies and series for its services in Italy proves once again that fictional content from Austria has become an international bestseller,” affirmed the Head of Content Sales International at ORF-Enterprise. The Italian content service platform acquired 130 hours of ORF’s crime movie slate “Tatort” as well as the series “Four Women and a Funeral” and “Fast Forward”.

Also RSI Switzerland signed a deal for multiple seasons of ORF’s long-running crime series “SokoKitzbuehel”, set in the picturesque mountains of Austria. The program is set to air in 2020. The broadcaster has also added the edutainment show “Cracker Snap” from ORF-Enterprise’s kids catalog to its program.

On the other hand, new additions to ORF’s UNIVERSUM line-up have recently been acquired by ARTE France (“Wild Shetland” and “Seefeld - Tyrolean Wonderland”), MEDIAWAN France (“A Tiger Called Broken Tail”, “Forest of Fantasies”, “Lionsrock - Return of the King”), Love Nature Canada (“Sky River of the Himalayas”, “Wild Caribbean - Rhythms of Life” and “Greece - The Wild Side”) and Al Jazeera (“Kestrels at Close Quarters”, “Russia’s Wild Sea”, “Secrets of Squirrels”).

Finally, the mini-series “Spotlight Murder” based on real crimes, will air soon on the US-based channels of Olympusat as well as on AMC Network’s European outlet of CBS Reality. History documentaries related to WW II will air soon on Histoire France (“Inventors Under the Swastika”, “Robert Bernardis - Stauffenberg’s Adjutant”, “Fighting for Resistance - Irene Harand”), while RAI Italy opted for the ORF UNIVERSUM History highlight “Beauty and Despair - Austria’s Empress Sisi”.

NEW 4K DOCUMENTARIES

“We will kick off 2020 with two new 4K documentaries from ORF’s UNIVERSUM brand ‘Europe’s Wild West – Portugal’ and ‘Bears of the Karawank Mountains’,” anticipated the executive. “Buyers from the fiction genre can look forward to ORF’s brand-new comedy series ‘License to Clean’ and the second season of ‘Walking on Sunshine’,” added.

Also, more highlights to be announced at MIPTV 2020 in Cannes. “We are also excited to welcome the community to ‘Jackson Wild 2020’ in Austria where the ORF will play an active part with its renowned ORF UNIVERSUM wildlife & nature strand,” concluded.

By Romina Rodríguez