Boom! breaks into Chile

NATPE: Chilean public broadcaster TVN has ordered a local production of Israeli gameshow Boom!, one of a number of Latin American deals for Keshet International.

A high-volume strip will be produced in-house at TVN for the first half of this year, Keren Shahar, general manager of distribution, told C21. “We are positive we’ll see more Latin American partners coming on board with this format in 2015.”

Nicolás Acuña, director of programming at TVN, added: “Acquiring a high-quality format like Boom! allows us to further extend our entertainment slate. Its combination of general knowledge and physical gameplay is a great addition to our free-to-air schedule, and we hope it will strike a chord with our viewers.”

The news follows the launch of the format in Israel (Channel 2), Hungary (TV2), Kazakhstan (Channel 7) and Spain (Antena 3), with the latter version also being licensed to Canal 10 in Uruguay. Boom! has also been picked up by VTM in Belgium, TF1 in France and Fox in the US.

The deals make for a good start to Natpe for Keshet, which last year saw its Rising Star talent format licensed to Telefe in Argentina and renewed by Globo in Brazil, but not by ABC in the US. Mexico’s Televisa has also licensed the firm’s scripted format Prisoners of War (aka Homeland).

Boom! was created by Keshet, Ido Rozenblum and Red Arrow-owned Israeli company July August Productions.