Turkey has its Revenge

MIPCOM: A Turkish version of Disney’s hit US drama series Revenge is to hit the small screen in early 2013. The 22-part series, locally titled Intikam, will be coproduced by Disney and local net Kanal D, where it’ll air.

The agreement by Disney Media Distribution (DMD), the international distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, is the distributor’s fourth such localised drama project in Turkey.

It follows Desperate Housewives, the recently announced Private Practice, and before that Grey’s Anatomy, all of which have Turkish versions.

Giovanni Mastrangelo, general manager of emerging markets for DMD, said they were “one-off, tactical local market opportunities for the reversioning of these shows.” Turkey has also localised three Disney sitcoms The Golden Girls, According to Jim and Hope & Faith.

In the US, Revenge became one of the highest-rated new dramas among women 18-49 in the 2011/2012 season, second to ABC’s other drama hit, Once Upon A Time. Season two has now launched and the series has already been licensed to over 200 territories worldwide.

Local adaptations of Disney series have been increasing elsewhere around world, including Desperate Housewives going into Latin America; The Golden Girls in Russia, Greece, Israel and Spain; and Brothers & Sisters and Grey’s Anatomy in Colombia.

Further exploitation of such localised versions is also beginning to materialise, said DMD, with Telemundo Media picking up rights to the Mexican version of Brothers & Sisters, aimed at Hispanic audiences in the US and Puerto Rico.

In separate news, DMD has unveiled its first Disney-branded SVoD movie service anywhere in EMEA, with the upcoming launch on Portugal’s telco and pay-TV platform Zon in November. The new service will include Disney and Pixar movies, such as Ratatouille, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Enchanted and Cinderella.

Simon Amselem, country manager and general manager for DMD in Spain and Portugal, said the SVoD movie service would “complement our existing movie agreements with other linear and non-linear broadcasters and platforms.”

In other news, DMD has picked up 10-year international rights to the Country Music Association’s three annual televised events: the Annual CMA Awards, the CMA Music Festival special and the CMA Country Christmas special.