Endemol Shine sets up Balkan Big Brother hub

Endemol Shine Group has set up a production hub from which local versions of reality hit Big Brother will be made for broadcasters in the Balkans.

The hub will be set up in Serbia and ESG said there will be local versions of the format returning to TV in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro.

The only broadcast partner confirmed thus far is RTL in Croatia, but ESG said talks with a Serbian broadcaster are at an advanced stage and the other partners will be announced later in the year.

RTL Croatia will produce its version in-house. Serbian prodco Emotion will make a version for the other territories with housemates from each featuring across a 100 days of filming.

Marina Williams, CEO of Central and Eastern Europe and MENA Regions at ESG said: “We’re thrilled to see the show returning to the Balkans for a pan regional series that will introduce a new, multi-national line up of housemates to fans in five markets.”