BBC Studios & Movistar Plus+ Renew Content Pact
BBC Studios (BBCS) is staying in business with Spain’s Movistar Plus+, with the pair striking a new, multi-year content deal. This will see the debut of a BBC Player streaming service, new FAST channels and a recommitment to natural history and BBC Earth programs. BBCS and streaming service Movistar Plus+ have already launched the likes of Planet Earth III, Mammal, Time Season 2 and cop show Blue Lights in Spain, while four FAST channels — BBC Top Gear, BBC Drama, BBC Food and BBC History — were added last month. The BBC Player service will offer up to 1,000 hours of content such as The Louis Theroux Interviews, Simon Reeve’s South America and Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job. It will also carry the Paradise franchise, offering Death in Paradise, Beyond Paradise and Return to Paradise. Blue Planet III and Kingdom will run as part of a dedicated BBC Earth-branded block on Movistar Plus+, while the streamer will act as BBCS’s local advertising sales partner for FAST channels and BBC Player. The agreement comes ahead of the BBC Studios Showcase next week.
Cineflix Rights Boards ‘Nordic Blue‘ Drama As Cameras Roll
Cineflix Rights has boarded Scandi drama Hildur, a ‘Nordic blue’ crime series, ahead of the London TV Screenings. Cameras are rolling on the show, which is based on the novels of Satu Rämö and follow a surfing female detective who fights against time to confront a serial killer in the fjords of Iceland, while unraveling a mystery around her long-lost sisters. Finland’s Take Two Studios is making the English- and Scandi-language series for Nelonen Media’s streamer Ruutu and Sagafilm for Siminn, with financing provided by IPR.VC. Ebba Katrín Finnsdóttir (Húsó, Vigdís) leads the cast, with Lauri Tilkanen (Deadwind), Rick Okon (Das Boot, Tatort) also starring. Nína Dögg Filipusardóttir (Prisoners, Valhalla Murders), Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir (Black Sand, Darkness), Oddur Julíusson (The Minister, Descendants), and Finnish Oona Airola (Helsinki Syndrome, Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki) are also in the cast. The series comes out of an emerging genre, known as ‘Nordic blue,’ which embraces families, friendship, humor and the power of love under the Nordic region’s blue skies, mountains, ice and seas. The ‘Hildur’ trilogy novels have sold nearly one million globally.
