Munich, October 22, 2007. SevenOne International has sold the talent show “The Successor” to Canada and Australia. In July, SevenOne International had already sold the US-rights to NBC. On NBC, the local adaptation will be airing on October 24 with the title “Phenomenon”, starring Uri Geller and Criss Angel. Simultaneously ”Phenomenon” will be airing on Canada’s CTV Media. CTV Media will broadcast the NBC version for their Canadian audience. SevenOne International also holds the distribution rights to the American version. Deals with other TV stations will be signed shortly.
The show is scheduled to air for five weeks in the U.S. and Canada, including a special back-to-back episode on Halloween. “Phenomenon” is hosted by Tim Vincent, who has been working with NBC since 2005. Vincent also hosts two BBC prime-time shows in Great Britain. Over the past weeks, candidates from all over the world have applied to NBC. Ten candidates have finally made it into the show, seven of whom are from the US, two from Israel and one from Belgium. “The Successor” is based on an Israeli TV format which aired in spring 2007 on Keshet, Channel 2, with an average market share of 50 percent – the highest ever recorded in Israel’s television history. In the show, Uri Geller was looking for his successor.
Said Jens Richter, Managing Director of SevenOne International: ”American TV channels are increasingly on the look-out for new shows outside the U.S. Also, until a few years ago, Great Britain and the Netherlands were almost the only countries to export TV shows to America. Nowadays, many other countries come up with great ideas that also work in the U.S. Think of ProSieben’s show “Beat your host”, which we have sold to Warner Bros. in April or “The Successor”, which originates in Israel where it has scored excellent market shares. We are positive that NBC and CTV Media will be equally successful.”