News round-up: Korea’s Wavve lands at NBCU; Lifetime’s ‘Married At First Sight’ travels; Starzplay inks Warners deal; and more…

NBCUniversal signs content deal with Korea’s Wavve

South Korean streamer Wavve will supply Korean content to NBCUniversal as part of a new deal announced over the weekend.

The platform’s operator, Content Wavve, is a consortium established last year, made up of South Korea’s terrestrial broadcasters – SBS, MBC and KBS – as well as telecoms company SK Telecom.

The deal, which has been agreed for an initial three years, will cover TV series and films and could see content appear on NBCUniversal’s own streaming service Peacock from next month.

“The deal will lay down a crucial foundation for the investment on Wavve’s original content and its expansion to the global stage,” said Content Wavve CEO Lee Tae-hyun.

Married At First Sight

Married At First Sight USA visits Europe, MENA

Broadcasters in Sweden, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and the Middle East have inked deals with Red Arrow Studios International for the US version of Married At First Sight.

The reality series was produced by the Red Arrow Studios-owned Kinetic Content for A+E Networks’ Lifetime channel. This deal follows last week’s announcement that Lifetime had commissioned Kinetic to produce a self-shot spin-off – Married At First Sight: Couples’ Cam.

SVT Sweden has acquired season six of the original show, while both M6 Group in France and Discovery Italy have taken three seasons each, and Fox Network Group Middle East has picked up seasons nine and 10.

Additionally, SIC Portugal has taken seven seasons, alongside spin-offs Married at First Sight: The First Year and Married At First Sight: Second Chances.

SVT has also picked up the Norwegian tapes, SIC Portugal the Italian and New Zealand tapes, and PRO Plus Slovenia has acquired Married At First Sight Croatia.

Batwoman

Starzplay and Warner Bros. ink MENA/Pakistan deal

Lionsgate-owned SVOD service Starzplay has signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution to bring new and exclusive content to the platform across MENA and Pakistan.

Warner’s portfolio of DC series, including Batwoman, Doom Patrol and the Harley Quinn Animated Series, are among the highlights that will be made available to subscribers, alongside boxsets of new shows and classic series including Supernatural, Castle Rock and Fringe.

Maaz Sheikh, co-founder and CEO of Starzplay, said: “Warner Bros. is one of the leading premium Hollywood studios and we are proud to deliver their high-quality content including much sought-after DC series to the region.”

Distribution360 strikes twice with Canadian deals

The Marblemedia-owned Distribution360 (D360) has struck deals with Canadian prodcos Black Rhino Creative and Campside Productions to add new food and adventure programming to its slate.

The Black Rhino-made Red Chef Revival is a 6 x 30-minute series following three indigenous Canadian chefs – New York Times-featured Cezin Nottaway, Top Chef finalist Rich Francis and Chopped finalist Shane Chartrand – as they leave their kitchens behind to the cuisine of their native culture.

D360 has also picked up the 1 x 75-minute feature documentary Into The Arctic: Awakening from Campside Productions, which follows artist and explorer Cory Trépanier as he explores the wilderness of the Canadian Arctic. D360 also picked up the other films in this series – Into The Arctic (1 x 60-minute) and Into The Arctic II (1 x 90-minute), as well as another of Trépanier’s films – Truewild: Kluane (1 x 90-minute).

Singapore’s Outdoor Channel acquires adventure package

Singapore-based Outdoor Channel has picked up a package of food, adventure and travel series from its shareholder Parade Media Group.

The MyLife block includes titles such as Andy And Ben Eat The World, Into The Outback With Abbey Holmes and My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita.

Joe Wan, head of programming for Outdoor Channel says, “At a time of an extraordinary rise in TV viewership, MyLife is a timely addition to viewer choice. Lifestyle programming is one of the most popular and enduring genres on TV. It’s also part of a deliberate strategy for Outdoor Channel to broaden its appeal through other genres synonymous with outdoor lifestyles such as food, travel and adventure”.

Rive Gauche picks up ‘Beer Jesus’ film for global distribution

German-based Sweetwood Films’ documentary The Beer Jesus From America has been picked up for global distribution by Rive Gauche Television.

The film, which is currently available on Amazon Prime in the US, follows the story of Greg Koch, co-founder of Stone Brewing, and his tumultuous journey to become the first American to build, own and operate his own large-scale independent craft brewery in Europe.

“The Beer Jesus From America has a compelling central figure, unique subject and great pop culture significance,” says Jon Kramer, CEO of Rive Gauche Television.  “The film checks off everything audiences love to watch, including a fish out of water element.”

FilmRise takes rights to classic US TV shows

New York-based TV and film company FilmRise has acquired exclusive streaming rights to the Peter Rodgers Organization (PRO) Film and Television library for North America.

The deal includes more than 1,000 episodes of content including western The Rifleman – the first TV show to present single-parenthood – as well as sci-fi sitcom My Favorite Martian and western series Hopalong Cassidy.

Danny Fisher, CEO of FilmRise, said: “As traditional television viewing continues to move more toward streaming destinations, we believe fans of classic TV will be excited to find their favourites like The Rifleman and My Favorite Martian. And now we are offering the opportunity for new streaming audiences to discover them.”

Other shows available include seasons of Acapulco H.E.A.T., Celebrity Bowling, The Cisco Kid and Movin’ On. The deal was negotiated by Max Einhorn, VP of acquisitions at FilmRise and Stephen Rogers, CEO at the Peter Rodgers Organization.