TORONTO — Heading into the NATPE Virtual Miami Marketplace and Conference happening later this month, Blue Ant International announced this week it’s already sold more than 300 hours of premium series to linear and streaming platforms across North America.
“We’ve had incredible interest from both our current customers and emerging streaming services in the United States and Canada,” said Solange Attwood, executive vice-president of Blue Ant International, in a press release. “The broad audiences that our platform partners offer speaks to the universal appeal of Blue Ant International’s catalogue, which has a diverse array of genres and includes programming narrated by the iconic voices of some of Hollywood’s top talent.”
These new sales follow two recently announced deals including the sale of natural history series A Wild Year on Earth, narrated by Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey), to BBC America, and the sale of two kids and family series to HBO Max, including Detention Adventure and Make it Big, Make it Small.
In the United States, AMC Networks’ streaming service Sundance Now has picked up Fight for Justice: David and Me (90 minutes, Markham Street Films), which chronicles filmmaker Ray Klonsky’s 10-year struggle to get a prison sentence overturned for David McCallum, who was a 16-year-old kid from Brooklyn when he went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based media company Tastemade has bought David Rocco’s Dolce Napoli (pictured, 13 episodes x 30 minutes, Rockhead Entertainment), which will be available on the lifestyle streaming network in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. In the series, celebrity chef David Rocco uncovers hidden gems in Naples and explores the surrounding scenic islands of Capri, Ischia, Procida and the beautiful Sorrento peninsula.
Available across the U.S. and Canada, Germany-based Quintus Media’s AVOD platform Free Documentary has licensed several factual and documentary titles from Blue Ant International, totalling more than 180 hours of content.
Brigham Young University’s BYUtv has picked up Paul Brandt’s Build It Forward (7×60, Corkscrew Media). Hosted by country music star Paul Brandt, the series follows volunteers who create a new home for a family in need, who in turn help build a new home for another family in a developing country.
In Canada, Corus Entertainment’s specialty channel Nat Geo Wild will broadcast seasons three through six of Hope for Wildlife (52×60, Arcadia Entertainment), which follows wildlife advocate Hope Swinimer and her team who rescue thousands of sick, injured and lost animals and return them to their natural habitats.
Ontario’s public broadcaster TVO has picked up the following series: Hope for Wildlife’s second season; ER Vets (30×30, Rhino Content), which is narrated by singer-songwriter Jann Arden and follows the stressful situations faced by veterinary professionals as they deal with emotional pet owners; and seasons two and three of Great Blue Wild (12×60, Blue Ant Studios), which reveals the wildest adventures of the world’s greatest dive shops in their own underwater video footage, featuring encounters with humpback whales, manta rays and sharks.
French Canadian network Quebecor Content has licensed Life Below Zero: Canada (8×60, Saloon Media), a documentary series about people who live off the grid and contend with long, dark winters in remote regions of northern Canada. The series is based on the BBC’s successful format.
CBC/Radio-Canada has picked up the French-Canadian rights for the first season of Detention Adventure (20×11, LoCo Motion Pictures and Broken Compass Pictures) for its Ici.Tou.tv streaming service. In addition, CBC/Radio-Canada has licensed several natural history titles including: Hope for Wildlife, season nine (10×60, Arcadia Entertainment); Animals at Play (2×60, Offspring Films); Malawi Wildlife Rescue (6×60, Icon Films); Epic Yellowstone (2×90, Grizzly Creek Films); Life on the Reef (3×60, Northern Pictures); and Epic Warrior Women: Vikings (1×60, Urban Canyons).
