Slow TV sets course for US

A US producer has picked up rights to Norwegian pubcaster NRK’s ‘slow TV‘ experiment, past examples of which have included five-day coverage of a cruise trip around the Norwegian coast.

Previous examples of the ‘slow TV’ genre have also seen NRK broadcast 18 hours of salmon fishing, 12 hours of wood-burning and, most recently, a knitting marathon.

LMNO Productions in the US hopes the record viewing figures Norwegian pubcaster NRK has seen with the genre will appeal to a North American broadcast partner.

The US producer, which has previously produced entertainment formats such as I Get that A lot and The Little Couple, has secured format rights from distributor DRG.

Lori Rothschild Ansaldi, senior VP of development for LMNO Productions, said: “In a world where everything moves so fast, it was refreshing to find something so captivating that you did not want to look away from it.

“LMNO is constantly looking for very loud, distinctive formats and characters and we believe we have found just that with the Slow TV concept.”

Ole Hedemann, head of format development at NRK: “Slow TV is a brave idea. The concept behind it is unique and hypnotic, and it has a way of mesmerising viewers.”

The news comes after DRG sold NRK’s Mammon format recently to 20th Century Fox Television, before the original series is due to air in January next year.