150 buyers commit to Murder

MIPCOM: More than 150 broadcasters, including SBS in Scandinavia and Fox in Italy, have picked up ABC Studios’ drama How To Get Away with Murder from Disney Media Distribution.

Disney’s international programming distribution arm has secured deals with broadcasters in 158 countries including Universal Channel in the UK and SBS in Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

Deals with undisclosed broadcasters have also been sealed in Ireland, Poland, Vietnam, South Africa, China, Azerbaijan, Israel, the Middle East, Greece, all of Africa and Turkey, among other countries.

The Shonda Rhimes-produced show stars Academy Award-nominee Viola Davis (The Help) as a criminal law professor who, together with her students, becomes embroiled in a murder plot.

The series had its US premiere last month on ABC and was recently given a full-season order.

The drama, created and exec produced by Pete Nowalk, is the highest rated show so far this fall season, averaging a 3.6 rating in the 18-49 adult demographic and attracting more than 14 million viewers to its opening episode. The show is produced by ABC Studios and Shondaland Productions.

The sales of Murder are the latest success story from the Rhimes produced stable of primetime dramas, which includes award-winning medical series Grey’s Anatomy and political thriller Scandal – both of which have been sold into more than 200 territories.

The show is on Disney Media Distribution’s Mipcom slate, which also includes family comedy Black-ish; American Crime, featuring Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton; mystery thriller Secrets And Lies; and the latest Star Wars animated series Star Wars Rebels.