More Co-Production Deals Roll In at Mipcom

Discovery Communications has scored new programming deals with European third-party broadcasters to air a combined 200 hours of content from across Discovery's portfolio of networks. The agreements were negotiated by Discovery Enterprises International, the company's program sales and licensing arm. Air partners include: TF1's (France) free digital terrestrial channels NT1 and TMC to air the latest seasons of Discovery series "Deadliest Catch" and "Man vs. Wild;" RTI-Mediaset Group (Italy) for "Man vs. Wild," "I Was Bitten" and "Untamed and Uncut;" La Sexta (Spain) for "Next World," "Destroyed in Seconds" and "Prototype This!;" Cuatro (Spain) for season 4 of "Man vs. Wild" ("El Último Superviviente") and "Not Your Average Travel Guide; Alpha TV (Greece) for docu-dramas "Nostradamous," "The Flight that Fought Back" and "Last Mysteries of the Titanic."

DQ Entertainment's "Lassie and Friends" has secured Super Prod for French-speaking Europe co-production rights, as well as exploitation of the French version of the series worldwide. The deal was signed in association with French broadcaster TF1. The 52-episode animated series is being co-developed by DQE with Classic Media. ZDF Group maintains the co-production rights for the series in Germany and German-speaking Europe.

August Media Holdings of Singapore has tapped animation house Scrawl Studios to serve as co-producer on a number of children's properties from Classic Media. The first projects will be focused on "George of the Jungle" and "Mr Magoo," as well as a primetime series from comedian Jay Ward. Scrawl Studios is based in Southeast Asia.

Australian-based SLR Productions is pitching tween book series "Dream Dogs" by Aimee Harper from HarperCollins Children's Books. The title will be developed into a 26x30 live-action series—SLR's first foray in the category.

Splash News, a Los Angeles-based content provider, teamed up with Shankly Productions to co-produce "Ultimate Hollywood Countdown." The celebrity factoid clips series (13x30) will be available for broadcast in April 2011.