Monday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Buyers in Oz, Canada have Dinner with Gavin Rossdale 

Keshet International (KI) has completed a raft of sales in Australia, Canada and Poland for Dinner with Gavin Rossdale, following its launch at London TV Screenings in March.

KI has licensed first and second windows in Australia, including a free TV window to SBS Food channel, while Corus Entertainment has snagged Canadian rights to the 6 x 60-minute series for food and cooking channel Flavour Network, debut 8 June.

In Poland, the show will air on lifestyle channel Canal+ Kuchnia.

The show was produced by Roundtable Entertainment and Bungalow Media+ Entertainment alongside Rossdale for Vizio’s WatchFree+. KI holds global distribution of both tape and format outside of the US.

Netflix snags Sesame Street rights 

Netflix is to stream the 56th season of Sesame Street to its viewers worldwide, picking up rights after HBO Max declined from picking them up last year.

The 11-minute episodes, sold by Sesame Workshop, will also become available concurrently in the US on PBS, which will also be offering them via streaming platform PBS Kids.

A 90-hour package of library episodes will also be available to Netflix customers as part of its deal.

72 Films lands C4 handcuff show 

Channel 4 has ordered a social experiment from Fremantle-owned 72 Films that follows four pairs of strangers as they navigate Britain while being handcuffed to each other.

Handcuffed, a 6 x 60-minute series hosted by Jonathan Ross, features eight strangers with completely opposing opinions, beliefs, lifestyles and bad habits, pairing them up in a test for survival.  

The pairs will be chained together as they navigate a road trip around the UK in the hope they find some common ground along the way. While shackled, they will eat, dress and sleep together.

The duo that lasts the longest has a chance of winning the £100,000 prize, but if any pair demands to be unchained, they will lose their shot at the jackpot.

Paramount, MRC extend distribution with MIA

Paramount Global Content Distribution has snagged sales rights to Peacock’s upcoming series MIA.

The show is produced by MRC and is being presented to buyers at LA Screenings this week, with the deal covering all rights outside of the US.

The show follows a family-run drug syndicate and has been created and executive produced by Bill Dubuque, with Karen Campbell serving as showrunner and executive producer. Alethea Jones will direct the first two episodes and also serve as an executive producer.

Series regulars include Shannon Gisela, Dylan Jackson, Brittany Adebumola, Cary Elwes, Alberto Guerra, Gerardo Celasco, Maurice Compte, Marta Milans and Danay Garcia.

MIA and Paramount have previously worked together on The Great and Poker Face.

Prime Video strikes Glitch deal

Prime Video has struck a multi-title licensing deal with Glitch Productions to take the latter’s creator-led animated web series to the streaming service.

The agreement will see a raft of indie animation heading to Prime Video globally, starting with sci-fi horror comedy, Murder Drones, which has over 270 million views on YouTube.

Glitch Productions founders, Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul, said the deal would allow shows to gain wider exposure but that it would retain “full creative control” of shows, which “will always continue to be released on YouTube.”

Murder Drones was created, directed, and written by Liam Vickers. The series is produced by Glitch Productions.

UK’s ITVX, Pop takes Totally Spies!

UK streamer ITVX and kids-skewing channel POP have picked up second window rights to the seventh season of Banijay Kids & Family series, Totally Spies!.

The 2D animated franchise’s original six-season run began in 2001, going on an 11-year hiatus until last year when the seventh run debuted with Gulli (France) before airing on Warner Bros. Discovery networks, including Cartoon Network in the UK.

An eighth season is in the works with commissioning broadcasters Gulli and Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA, and a live-action adaptation is in development, produced by Banijay Kids & Family, in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios and Gloria Sanchez Productions. 

Roku Channel expands wrestling offering 

The Roku Channel has agreed a deal with Paramount Global Content Distribution to launch a new FAST channel about wrestling in the US and Canada.

Wrestling Central will feature weekly matches from Women Of Wrestling (WOW) and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), along with classic episodes, never-before-seen matches, specials and documentaries.