Germany’s ZDF and BBC Studios renew deal

Markus Schäfer – CEO ZDF Studios; Rebecca Glashow – CEO, Global Distribution BBC Studios; Nadine Bilke – Chief Content Officer, ZDF; Tom Fussell, CEO BBC Studios.

BBC Studios and German pubcaster ZDF will renew their strategic partnership to develop and co-produce content.

The multi-year agreement which was originally forged in 2019 will extend co-development on scripted TV content. The new deal also extends first option on pre-sales and acquisitions across BBC Studios’ catalogue of scripted and all factual genre content that are available in Germany.

The duo have since partnered on numerous titles including Death in Paradise, The Mallorca Files series, Frozen Planet II, A Perfect Planet, The Green Planet and The Chelsea Detective.

The new deal was secured by Jessica Wirdemann head of scripted and Hana Hadzikaric head of unscripted, BBC Studios Germany, Chris Kinsman director of factual, content sales EMEA and Salim Mukaddam, senior vice president for Content Sales EMEA.

Nick Percy, president, Global Markets, BBC Studios said “The impact of the strategic partnership between BBC Studios’ and ZDF over the past few years has been remarkable, with award-winning titles like Frozen Planet II and new scripted commissions such as The Chelsea Detective only possible with that early backing. This renewal is a win for audiences not only in the UK and Germany but internationally as well, as partnerships like this with shared editorial values allow us to deliver more ambitious and premium quality programming.”

Dr. Nadine Bilke, chief content officer, ZDF said “We look back on an extremely fruitful cooperation with BBC Studios. Since 2019, we have been working together on high-quality and extraordinary productions that enrich the ZDF programme and inspire viewers. We are delighted to be able to continue and further expand this cooperation with BBC Studios.”