Fifth Season & Roku Extend Distribution Pact For ‘Morimoto’s Sushi Master’ And More Into Lat Am & Canada
Fifth Season and Roku are extending their international unscripted pact.
The pair have agreed a deal that will see Fifth Season selling Roku originals in Latin American and Canadian distribution rights. Fifth Season has also picked up rights to new seasons of Roku shows.
Corus becomes the first Canadian network to benefit, acquiring unnamed shows from the Roku library.
When they first struck the unscripted distribution pact in November last year, the U.S., Canada and Latin America were excluded. Programs included at that time were, among others, Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis’ Honest Renovations, survivalist competition Fight to Survive, Morimoto’s Sushi Master, the Sofia Vergara-exec produced Celebrity Family Food Battle, Jay Brewer’s Reptile Royalty and The Cupcake Guys, which features football stars turned bakers Brian “Rak” Orakpo and Michael “Griff” Griffin.
Fifth Season will now take on second seasons of Honest Renovations, Morimoto’s Sushi Master, UFO Cowboys, Reptile Royalty and Meet Me in Rome – the follow-up to Meet Me in Paris from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine.
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Besides Corus, international networks buying Roku shows from Fifth Season include NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), Now TV (Hong Kong), Mediacorp TV (Singapore), RTL Deutschland (Germany), Seven.One Entertainment Group (Germany), The Walt Disney Company Limited (MENA), M6+ (France and French-speaking Europe) and Play Media (Belgium).
Prentiss Fraser, President of TV Distribution at Fifth Season, said: “Since the start of our partnership with Roku, we’ve had significant interest from buyers internationally in this slate – who are drawn to these elevated and aspirational shows fronted by some of the biggest household names in Hollywood. As we build on the strong start of our collaboration with our first wave of sales, it’s a testament to the success of this partnership that Roku is already expanding our territory rights into Canada alongside Latin America – a major market we as Fifth Season are significantly deepening our presence in.”
David Eilenberg, Head of Content, Roku Media, added: “We’re delighted to further expand our partnership with Fifth Season and for the opportunity to work with them to connect even more global audiences with our impressive slate of originals.”