FremantleMedia Announces Key Latin American Sales

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has announced two key Latin American sales, as the spotlight on the region brightens in the run up to January’s NATPE market.
The multi-genre pan-regional deals brokered with Sony by Sheila Aguirre, VP Sales & Development, Latin America & Hispanic USA, will see in excess of 100 hours of FME programming delivered to Sony, for broadcast across the Latin American region, including Brazil and the Caribbean.
Included in the sale is FME’s leading drama title, the worldwide hit Falcon Beach (26 x 60’, plus 1 x 120’ pilot). Produced by Insight Productions and Original Pictures, in conjunction with Global Television and ABC Family USA, season two of Falcon Beach brings more glamour, more tension and more conflict among the wealthy summer cottagers and the townies in this waterfront beach town. The town is divided when a major waterfront development threatens to tear lives and loves apart and deprive holidaymakers and townsfolk alike of the golden beach they have enjoyed for decades.
Also bound for Sony is the entertainment blockbuster American Inventor (1 x 120’ premiere, 14 x 60’), from Simon Cowell’s Syco Television and FremantleMedia North America. The biggest search ever conducted to find America's best new invention will uncover the hottest new product and make one struggling inventor's dream come true. With a million dollars at stake, American Inventor celebrates the best in homespun American ingenuity.
Latin American audiences will be laughing along with a range of comedy programming - from sitcom, to sketch to comedy-infused gameshow fun, FME has served up The IT Crowd, Comedy Inc. and Distraction to Sony.
Fresh from its International Emmy Best Comedy nomination, popular UK sitcom The IT Crowd (6 x 30’) heads to Latin America. The IT Crowd is a surreal look at the underclass of a company.
Comedy Inc. (22 x 30’), from Australia’s Crackerjack tickles funny bones with its mix of sharp, fast-paced humour and irreverence.
To round out the deal, comedian Jimmy Carr will present the groundbreaking game show Distraction (USA 26 x 30’) to Latin American viewers, combining ridiculously simple trivia questions with hilarious concentration-breakers.
In a separate agreement, Sony has also picked up American Idol season six, the entertainment phenomenon which will launch in January 2007. The show, featuring iconic judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, is America’s premiere forum for finding new talent and will no doubt serve up new ratings records this series, not to mention a new American Idol.
(SP)