French, German licences for RDF

Reality format Wife Swap, where two husbands swap wives for two weeks, is to be reversioned for the French and German markets after factual distributor RDF International inked two new licences.

France's Case Productions, a subsidiary of reality giant Endemol, and Germany's Tresor TV have both bought the format. Tresor will be making a pilot of Wife Swap for German broadcaster RTL.

The format is based on a show produced by RDFI's sister RDF Television for Channel 4. It involves husbands exchanging wives and seeing how families cope with the new domestic set-up and became a ratings hit when it debuted in the UK in January.

The show has already been licensed to US net ABC and Australia's Network Nine.

Wife Swap (4×60') also heads up RDF's MipTV slate of 100 hours of finished programming. Among the territories to have bought the show are TVNZ (New Zealand), Network Nine (Australia), Nelonen (Finland), Channel 5 (Sweden), along with the Noga group (Israel), HMG (the Netherlands), Zeppelin Media (Spain) and several airlines for in-flight entertainment.

Equally popular with buyers has been FHM Bikini Heaven (1×90'). Created by the men's magazine FHM, the show follows the search for the ideal bikini-clad woman in 15 countries and the contest's grand final, recently held in Miami.

So far South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Romania have picked up the show. RDF is currently in negotiations with nets the US, Canada and France. FHM Bikini Heaven will go to air in the UK on Sky1 this Easter.