US cable content heads to Norway

A Norwegian commercial broadcaster has secured US cable series including Showtime’s Boss, ABC Family’s Bunheads and A&E Network’s hit Longmire.

SBS Norge’s channel bouquet (free-to-air net TVNorge and thematic channels Fem, Max and Vox) will all get new US and UK fare from this summer, the firm’s head of acquisitions Nina Lorgen Flemmen told C21.

Among the new programming, new older-adult-skewing net Vox has bought A&E’s mystery drama Longmire, which smashed the US cable channel’s original series ratings record this month after launching on June 3.

It has also acquired Lionsgate International-distributed series Boss, which stars Kelsea Grammer (Cheers, Fraiser) as a Chicago major with a degenerative neurological problem; and costume drama Titanic: Blood & Steel, which comes from Sonar Entertainment and has broadcast across Europe.

Female-skewing channel Fem has tapped Disney Media Distribution’s Bunheads, which comes from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and recently sold to Kanal 5 in Sweden before its launch in the US.

Fem will also broadcast more seasons of Project Runway All Stars, including the Accessory spin-off series, which are sold by FremantleMedia Enterprises; Warner Bros’ World Strictest Parents Denmark and The Bachelorette; and NBCUniversal’s Scouted.

Male-skewing Max’s flagship acquisition is House of Lies, distributed by CBS Studios International. The series follows Don Cheadle as a business consultant willing to go to any lengths for a deal.

It has also bought Cinemax/Sky1 coproduction Strike Back from HBO, World’s Toughest Truckers from BBC Worldwide and Studio Lambert’s All3Media-sold Diamond Divers. Two-year-old Max is one of the fastest growing channels in Norway with ratings up 52% year-on-year for the first five months of 2012, according to official data.

Finally, flagship net TVNorge has acquired Warner’s drama Person of Interest and Showtime/BBC comedy coproduction Episodes, which sees Friends star Matt le Blanc playing a sex-crazed egomaniac version of himself.

“We’ve never done this well before and the four channels are steaming ahead. We’re now 70% of (commercial market leader) TV2’s size and we’re eating our way in. Last week, we were almost twice the size of MTG across all four channels,” Lorgen Flemmen said this week.

The news shows will begin rolling out this summer and into the 2012/13 season.