News round-up: K7 hires Foxtel alum; LGI sells factual across Asia; Movistar & Mediawan sample ‘Vienna Blood’

Vienna Blood

Movistar, Mediawan sample Vienna Blood

Broadcasters across Europe have picked up crime drama Vienna Blood after striking deals with Red Arrow Studios International (RASI).

Mediawan Rights has acquired the series for French-speaking markets, while Movistar has taken Spanish rights and YLE has picked up the show for Finland.

Viasat World will air it on the Epic Drama channel in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics, while undisclosed deals have been struck in China and Japan.

These latest sales join Red Arrow’s deal for Vienna Blood with BBC Two in the UK and PBS in the US. The show is produced by Red Arrow Studios-owned Endor Productions and MR Film for Austria’s ORF and Germany’s ZDF.

K7 Media hires Foxtel alum

Media consultancy firm K7 Media has appointed former Foxtel exec Hannah Barnes to work across its operations in Australia.

Barnes will be based in Melbourne as a consultant for K7 and joins having previously worked for Sky and Channel 5 in the UK.

She has held roles in format development, TV strategy and commercial partnerships, and was most recently group general manager for lifestyle channels at Foxtel, working across linear, SVOD, BVOD and digital platforms.

K7 has expanded its global reach recently, launching a permanent office in Singapore.

LGI sells across Asia

Broadcasters in China, Hong Kong and Vietnam have picked up more than 500 hours of factual programming from Australian distributor LGI Media (aka Looking Glass International).

The deals, brokered through LGI Media’s Beijing office by head of sales for Asia Karen Lee, includes a package deal of almost 400 hours to YuanLai Education, an educational program broadcaster based in Wuhan, China.

Beijing-based OTT & VOD operator Bytedance China, owners of TikTok, have taken almost 170 hours including Spiky Gold Hunters and The Wine Guys: Grape Escapes, while Hong Kong-based broadcaster PCCW has picked up LGI Media’s 4K programme Yohji Yamamoto: Rebel In Black (1 x 60’) for it SVOD platform.

Vietnamese pay-TV channel SCTV Vietnam has also struck a 55-hour package, including Masai Mara: The Big Hunt.