UKTV ACQUIRE 40 HOURS OF FACTUAL CONTENT

UKTV has closed a major volume deal with ZDF Enterprises and its wholly owned subsidiary, Off the Fence. The deal will see UKTV acquire 40 hours of premium factual content for two of its specialist factual channels, Eden and Yesterday.

ZDF Enterprises' new World War II history documentary, Frontlines (8 x 50'), produced by Impossible Factual Ltd will air on Yesterday, and Off the Fence's own production, a nature series, Wild Edens (3 x 60', 4K) is for Eden.

Global Acquisitions Manager Charlie Charalambous brokered the deal for UKTV and commented: "The environment and sustainability is an important and topical subject matter, and one that is close to many of our viewers' hearts. This package deal will ensure we have a wide range of high end factual programming to engage those viewers who want to connect with the World around them so I'm really pleased to have worked with ZDF Enterprises and Off the Fence to secure these brilliant shows."

Ralf Rueckauer, Vice President ZDFE.unscripted, ZDF Enterprises, said: "I'm delighted that our long-standing partnership with UKTV has resulted in pre-sales of two fantastic series that are still in production, Africa from Above and Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall. Both shows are produced by Off the Fence which is widely recognized for delivering top quality natural history documentaries."

Stefanie Fischer, Managing Director Sales, Off the Fence added: "It is great to see that a number of key titles from our catalogue will be entertaining UKTV's viewers in the year ahead. I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy the journey these series will take them on, as nature is always full of surprises."

As well as the sale of Frontlines (8 x 50'), ZDF Enterprises has secured pre-investment from UKTV for two natural history series, both for Eden.

Those include Africa from Above (10 x 50', 4K/UHD), produced by Off the Fence, a stunning production covering every aspect of this fascinating continent, and Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall (5 x 50'), an enlightening series that looks behind the scenes at one of the largest great ape sanctuaries in Africa, produced by Off the Fence Productions for Curiosity Stream in association with ZDF Enterprises.

Also licensed to UKTV for Eden is Equator - The Line of Life (3 x 50'), filmed in 4K/UHD, a three-part series exploring what is known in science as the "cradle of nature", produced by Primitive Entertainment and Spiegel TV in association with ZDF, ARTE, NHK, Discovery Canada and ZDF Enterprises.