Sony rings Bell for The Launch

The Launch has just finished airing on Bell’s CTV in Canada

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has picked up global rights to music format The Launch from Canada’s Bell Media and Big Machine Label Group (BMLG), and will also produce a UK version of the show.

In an exclusive deal with Bell and BMLG, SPT will distribute the format – the Canadian version of which has just finished airing on Bell’s commercial network CTV – worldwide, excluding Canada.

SPT has already tapped its prodco Electric Ray to adapt the show for the UK. Additionally, SPT will distribute the finished Canadian version internationally.

Based on a concept by music mogul Scott Borchetta, founder of record label BMLG, The Launch was created by Bell Media president Randy Lennox, Paul Franklin from US prodco Eureka (MasterChef) and Lindsay Cox of Canuck outfit Insight Productions, along with Borchetta.

In each episode, unsigned music artists audition for the chance to learn, record and perform a new original song, mentored by a panel of global music legends. The mentors then pick two artists who they think have the most potential and work with them on the song over 48 hours.

The show was announced at Mipcom last year, with the Canadian version including artists such as Shania Twain, Boy George and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder as mentors.

The Launch is the first acquisition made by SPT’s Future Formats Team, which was created at the end of January, as exclusively reported by C21.

Sarah Edwards, creative director of global formats at SPT, said the team immediately knew it was the “music talent show we had been looking for.”

She added: “It is a unique and authentic look into what it takes to be a successful performer and recording artist in today’s music business, and we are confident that audiences around the world will embrace it.”