MIPCOM Deals: Paramount Signs Mid-East Package With beIN Media, Hulu Nabs ‘Critical Incident’
A spate of deals out of MIPCOM Cannes this week indicates there is still life in the global TV market.
Paramount Global Content Distribution inked a multi-year volume deal with beIN Media Group, giving the Qatari-owned group exclusive rights to Paramount’s content library, including acclaimed series like Yellowstone, Billions, new offerings such as NCIS: Tony & Ziva and feature films including Bob Marley: One Love and the Transformers and Mission: Impossible franchises, across the Middle East and North Africa for beIN’s premium Pay TV channels and TOD streaming platform. The deal will see the shows carried in English subtitled in Arabic. Paramount has similar agreements in place with the likes of Streamz in Belgium, MultiChoice in Africa, and JioCinema in India.
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Disney-owned Hulu, which on Monday announced its acquisition of StudioCanal’s action series Paris Has Fallen, has also snapped up U.S. streaming rights to Critical Incident, an Australian psychological crime thriller from All3Media International. The series, inspired by creator Sarah Bassiuoni’s experiences as a lawyer in Western Sydney’s juvenile justice system, follows a police officer, played by Akshay Khanna, whose routine patrol takes a tragic turn. Zo? Boe and Hunter Page-Lochard co-star. Critical Incident premiered in August in Australia on Stan. Hulu will launch the series later this year as part of its global rollout.
Over in the U.K., the BBC has acquired The One That Got Away, a six-part crime drama set in Wales, for BBC Wales, BBC Four, and BBC iPlayer. Produced by BlackLight TV, a Banijay UK company, the series was written by Catherine Tregenna (Law & Order UK) and stars Elen Rhys, Richard Harrington, and Rhian Blythe. The psychological thriller follows DI Ffion Lloyd (Rhys) and her ex-lover, DS Rick Walters (Harrington), as they investigate the murder of a nurse in a coastal Welsh town. The case reopens old wounds while raising fears of a copycat killer. The series is an English-language version of Cleddau, an original Welsh-language series for S4C.
Following its successful UK premiere on BBC One, Fremantle has secured global distribution for Nightsleeper, a high-octane drama now set to launch in 147 territories. Key deals include broadcasters like TF1 (France), M-Net (Africa), and Stan (Australia). The series, which has captivated audiences with its real-time thriller format about a sleeper train hijacking, garnered 8.5 million viewers in the UK and strong ratings in France, with episode one capturing a 17.4 percent market share. Created by Nick Leather, the 6-episode series stars Joe Cole and Alexandra Roach.
On the sales end, BBC Studios has announced major deals across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa for back catalog content, with French/German group Arte.TV acquiring free video on demand rights to period dramas like War & Peace and Les Misérables, and series including Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform added popular titles including Sherlock, Luther, and Misfits, while France’s M6+ took Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility and Sky Italia added crime series like Luther and Death in Paradise. In Sub-Saharan Africa, SABC secured BBC natural history series including Serengeti II and Frozen Planet II.
The Couple Next Door, a hit Channel 4/Starz series, has racked up global sales for Beta Film, with deals announced in more than 55 territories. Highlights include agreements with RTL Germany, RAI Italy, and Amazon Netherlands, with NBC Universal picking the show up for Brazil/Latin America.
The six-hour drama, starring Sam Heughan, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jessica De Gouw, and Alfred Enoch, was Channel 4’s biggest drama streaming launch. Loosely adapted from the Dutch series The Neighbors, it explores suburban claustrophobia and the consequences of pursuing dark desires.
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