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CME reinforces local production
April 25, 2007, C21Media
Central and Eastern European broadcaster CME Enterprises is ramping up its commitment to localised programming, with a number of new scripted formats in the pipeline.
CME will be launching a Ukrainian adaptation of popular Romanian cop drama Good Guys, which was originally developed in 2006 by CME's partner company MediaPro for CME's Pro TV in Romania, under the title Baieti Buni (8x60').
CME has partnered with Ukrainian production company Star Media to produce Good Guys for CME's Ukrainian operation Studio 1+1 as well as for Russian-speaking markets for the fall 2007 season.
The adaptation comes on the heels of CME's decision to create a Russian-language version of MediaPro's smash hit telenovela Tears of Love. CME will be working with Intra Communications and Film UA to launch Tears of Love on Studio 1+1 in Ukraine and on TV Broadcasting Company's Petersburg-Channel 5 in Russia this fall.
CME has also achieved impressive results for the first Slovak sitcom, Neighbours (Susedia), and the extension of its daily soap The Street (Ulice) in the Czech Republic.
The second-season commission of locally devised Neighbours has proved to be the right decision for CME-owned TV Markiza in the Slovak Republic.
The story centres on the bitter-sweet relationship between two married couples, Slovaks and Hungarians. The first 17-episode season aired in fall 2006 at 21.00 on Mondays with an average share of 58%, compared with an average primetime share of 40%.
The second season premiered on the March 5 this year for a run of 17 half-hour episodes in an earlier 20.00 slot, with the first episode delivering a very impressive 62.1% share.
The Street is the first open-ended locally developed daily soap for CME, and has been on air on TV Nova in the Czech Republic since September. It delivered a share of over 52% among 15-54s and over 67% for 15-24s in December 2006, prompting TV Nova to renew the series and extend the episodes to 60 minutes.
CME retains all rights to the formats and finished programmes of both Neighbours and The Street and shares rights to the Russian-language adaptations of Tears of Love and Good Guys with MediaPro and its coproduction partners in Russia and Ukraine.
Marina Williams, executive VP of CME, said: "We are building a strong catalogue of scripts covering genres from soaps and telenovelas to sitcoms and action series. We are focussing on pan-regional idea exploitation.
"The production and audience synergies available between CME territories mean we can now use the flow of creativity and expertise our channel network provides. Naturally our next step will be to export our ideas beyond the CME stations' footprint."
For additional information, please contact:
Romana Wyllie
Vice President of Corporate Communications
Central European Media Enterprises
Krizeneckeho nam. 1078/5
152 00 Praha 5
Czech Republic
+420 242 465 525
romana.wyllie@cme.net
