31 March 2021
UKTV, one of Britain's largest commercial broadcasters, has closed a major volume deal with ZDF Enterprises and its wholly owned subsidiary, Off the Fence. The deal will see UKTV acquire 40 hours of premium factual content for two of its specialist factual channels, Eden and Yesterday.
ZDF Enterprises' new World War II history documentary, Frontlines (8 x 50'), produced by Impossible Factual Ltd will air on Yesterday, and Off the Fence's own production, a nature series, Wild Edens (3 x 60', 4K) is for Eden.
Global Acquisitions Manager Charlie Charalambous brokered the deal for UKTV and commented:
The environment and sustainability is an important and topical subject matter, and one that is close to many of our viewers' hearts. This package deal will ensure we have a wide range of high end factual programming to engage those viewers who want to connect with the World around them so I'm really pleased to have worked with ZDF Enterprises and Off the Fence to secure these brilliant shows.
Ralf Rueckauer, Vice President ZDFE.unscripted, ZDF Enterprises, said:
I'm delighted that our long-standing partnership with UKTV has resulted in pre-sales of two fantastic series that are still in production, Africa from Above and Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall. Both shows are produced by Off the Fence which is widely recognized for delivering top quality natural history documentaries.
Stefanie Fischer, Managing Director Sales, Off the Fence added:
It is great to see that a number of key titles from our catalogue will be entertaining UKTV's viewers in the year ahead. I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy the journey these series will take them on, as nature is always full of surprises.
As well as the sale of Frontlines (8 x 50'), ZDF Enterprises has secured pre-investment from UKTV for two natural history series, both for Eden. Those include Africa from Above (10 x 50', 4K/UHD), produced by Off the Fence, a stunning production covering every aspect of this fascinating continent, and Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall (5 x 50'), an enlightening series that looks behind the scenes at one of the largest great ape sanctuaries in Africa, produced by Off the Fence Productions for Curiosity Stream in association with ZDF Enterprises. Also licensed to UKTV for Eden is Equator - The Line of Life (3 x 50'), filmed in 4K/UHD, a three-part series exploring what is known in science as the "cradle of nature", produced by Primitive Entertainment and Spiegel TV in association with ZDF, ARTE, NHK, Discovery Canada and ZDF Enterprises.
Off the Fence, a distributor, renowned and multi-award winning producer, has also sold five nature series to UKTV as part of the deal. Those titles include Wild Edens (3 x 60'), showcasing the wild and extreme beauty of Russia, Turkey and South Asia and Costa Rica: The Rise of Nature (3 x 60', 4 K), from BambooDoc, a fascinating series that takes you to the heart of a unique country. Beasts In The City (1 x 60', HD from Terra Mater Factual Studios) looks at the urban invaders who have cleverly adapted to city life, while Animal Social Networks (5 x 60' HD, from Rotating Planet Productions) observes the behaviours of animal communities. Completing the package deal is Seasons in the Wild (2 x 60' HD), a documentary from Terra Mater Factual Studios focusing on autumn and spring and the ingenious ways wildlife cope with the changing seasons.
For more information, please contact:
- Ali Laurie, Publicist, UKTV
- Christine Denilauler, Vice President Marketing and Corporate Communications, ZDF Enterprises - christine.denilauler@zdf-enterprises.de
- Jennifer Kemp, Press, Off the Fence, jennifer@offthefence.com
About UKTV
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 25 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - Dave, Gold, W, Drama, Alibi, Eden and Yesterday - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to audiences through UKTV Play, Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat and Amazon Fire. The broadcaster is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers.
UKTV is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.
corporate.uktv.co.uk | @uktvpress
About ZDF Enterprises
ZDF Enterprises was founded in 1993 as a commercial subsidiary of ZDF, one of the largest and most renowned TV broadcasters in Europe. Headquartered in Mainz, Germany, ZDF Enterprises is responsible for the worldwide sale of programs, the making of international co-productions, the acquisition of licenses as well as the merchandising of strong program brands in its own name, for the ZDF, and for third parties. ZDF Enterprises has successfully established itself as an independent market player on the German and international stage. Bound into a strong group of 16 affiliated companies and subsidiaries, the company manages the largest German-language stock of programs in the world and, next to this, a continuously growing portfolio of international productions consisting of series and miniseries, TV movies, documentaries and children's programs. In the course of the development and diversification process carried out up to now, many business fields in the television and media domains were made accessible in the ZDF Enterprises group. Thus ZDF Enterprises can provide a comprehensive, full-service offering today, and covers every step in the chain of origin and exploitation of successful TV programs, from development to production and up to the marketing of TV licenses, merchandising rights, online rights and much more.
About Off the Fence
Off the Fence is a leading non-fiction content company of global scale and reach, producing and distributing exceptional factual programming. Owned by ZDF Enterprises since 2019, and established in 1994, Off the Fence is a 360 factual content company. OTF develops, finances, produces and co-produces international non-fiction programmes across a range of genres including Natural History, Science, Travel & Adventure, Lifestyle, History, People & Culture, Crime and Feature Docs.