Tuesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

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All the latest news from the global content industry on Tuesday, 2 December

Sphere Abacus shows travel

BBC Studios, AMC Networks in Iberia and Super Channel in Canada are among buyers of shows from Sphere Abacus, which has unveiled more than 120 hours of deals.

The first season of crime drama Scrublands, from Australia’s Easy Tiger production in association with Third Act Stories, is heading to AMC for Spain and Portugal, Proximus Media House in Belgium and Iceland’s RUV.

AMC and RUV have also acquired Scrublands: Silver, while Proximus Media has picked up Clapperboard Studios’ drama The Cuckoo, Safehaven from Ravenwood Productions, and Red Letter Day Pictures’ Summertide S1 (eps 14-46) .

Other deals includes Subotica’s The Boy That Never Was being sold to Super Channel; Australia’s SBS buying Pier 21 Films’ Late Bloomer S1; and TVO in Canada taking Hope Street S1 & S2. The Long Story TV show has also been acquired by BritBox for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, while BBC Studios – CEE and Poland, BBC NL in the Netherlands, and BBC First in Belgium have acquired S5.

KI to sell Murder at the Dead Sea

Keshet International (KI) has acquired worldwide distribution rights to crime thriller Murder at the Dead Sea.

The 7 x 60-minute show was produced for Keshet 12 in Israel by Manayek outfit Yoav Gross Productions.

It is currently in post-production and set to premiere on Keshet 12 on 22 December. Raz Yuvan created the show, with Tomer Shani directing and Niv Sultan (Tehran) in the lead role.

The story tracks what happens when a pop icon’s body plummets from the ninth floor of a quarantined hotel during the height of the pandemic. KI will formally launch sales at the 2026 London TV Screenings.

Blue Ant buys Big Media duo

Big Media’s investigative history series Truthseekers S3 and Scanning History have been licensed to Blue Ant Media.

Scanning History will debut on Smithsonian Channel (which is run by Blue Ant in Canada) in March, while Truthseekers S3 will air on Cottage Life in September.

Truthseekers S3 blends mythology, scientific inquiry and evidence-based exploration to explore mysteries such as the Loch Ness monster and Area 51. It is a co-production between Big Media and RMC Story.

Scanning History explores hidden stories within iconic artifacts, ruins, and engineering feats using advanced scanning technologies. It is a co-production between Big Media, WildBear Entertainment, ZDF Studios, and TF1.

RTV Slovenia extends Joker

Turkey’s Global Agency has struck a deal with RTV Slovenia for game show Joker.

A ninth season will run on RTV Slovenia next year, with the fast-moving quiz format requiring contestants to answer 10 multiple-choice questions to snatch the jackpot.

The format has previously been sold into countries including Portugal, France, Poland, Croatia and Spain.