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CONTENT STRATEGIES: Uncovering programming opportunities worldwide

Endemol goes for talent format, not auction

Endemol has picked up global rights to a Canadian talent competition, as it concentrates on the business of selling formats after rejecting a takeover bid by Time Warner.

The deal, between Endemol and Canadian indie Insight Productions, hands the Big Brother firm international rights to Canada Sings, the Toronto prodco’s singing contest on Shaw Media-owned Global TV.

Canada Sings challenges ordinary Canadians to form glee clubs with their co-workers and compete against other workplace teams for a cash prize donation to their charity of choice. It aired on Global over the summer.

Endemol will now distribute the format globally, looking to produce the local versions where it can. The pick-up comes soon after Global greenlit a second season of the show from Insight.

“This is an unabashed feel-good format. The show’s performance in Canada speaks for itself and the elements that have driven that success can be translated in any territory,” said Grant Ross, global head of format acquisitions at Endemol.

The pick-up comes as it emerged that Endemol has rejected Time Warner’s unsolicited US$1.4bn takeover bid.

While no official comment has been made, a source close to the company told C21 that Endemol brass have decided to focus on the firm’s capital restructure rather than an auction process, and have said so in a letter to Time Warner.

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