Hulu checks in to Grand Hotel

US VOD service Hulu is among the latest buyers of Spanish period drama Grand Hotel, TBI can reveal.

Austria’s ORF and Sony’s new German pay TV channel Sony Entertainment Television have also acquired the show, which has been described by sources here in Cannes as a cross between ITV’s Downtown Abbey and Danish mystery drama The Killing.

Furthermore, Italian prodco Cattleya has snapped up format rights to the Beta Films-distributed show. A Beta rep told TBI a finished programming deal in Latin America is pending too. Previous buyers include Sky Arts in the UK and channels in France and Russia.

The show has run for three seasons in Spain, where it broadcasts on Antena 3 and totals 60 hours. It follows the mystery around the disappearance of a maid working at a luxury hotel in Madrid.

Grand Hotel is produced by Bambu Producciones, the Spanish producer founded by Ramon Campos and Teresa Fdez-Valdes in 2008. 

Jan Mojto, CEO of pan-European distributor Beta, told TBI the series’ period drama format made it “perhaps one of the most surprising series to ever come out of Spain”.

Beta is also working on a 12-part re-telling of Robert Saviano’s book and film Gomorrah for Italian pay TV platform Sky Italia. It “should launch in 2014,” according to Mojto.

Yesterday, TBI reported Beta had also acquried distribution rights to HBO Europe’s three-part miniseries Burning Bush, which comes from Oscar-nominated director.