MUMBAI: The newly launched global content creator, producer and distributor, Endemol Shine Group, has inked a new Pan Balkan deal for Big Brother. The reality juggernaut will return to five markets in the region including Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro, marking the format’s comeback where it last aired in 2011.
Endemol Shine Group has licensed the format to RTL Croatia, who will produce in house as well as airing the smash hit series. Meanwhile Serbian production company Emotion has also picked up the rights and will make the show for major broadcasters in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro, details of which will be announced in due course.
The production will be filmed over 100 days at the regional hub in Serbia and will air simultaneously in each market, launching later this year. The series will feature housemates from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia all filmed together in the one Big Brother house.
“Big Brother remains one of the world’s biggest and longest-running entertainment hits and this deal is just the latest in a series of comebacks the format has made over the years. We’re thrilled to see the show returning to the Balkans for a pan regional series that will introduce a new, multi-national line up of housemates to fans in five markets,” said Endemol Shine Group CEO of Central and Eastern Europe and MENA regions Marina Williams.
The original reality format Big Brother launched in the Netherlands more than 15 years ago and changed the face of television. Twenty-five series aired in more than 70 countries across 2014. The format continues to be a hit in the USA, UK, Italy, Spain, Canada and Israel as well as in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and Asia.
Williams and her teams regionally oversee Endemol Shine Group’s newly combined catalogue of formats. The new company's regional presence includes local production hubs in Poland, Middle East and North Africa, Russia and Turkey, with the Central and Eastern Europe format distribution team representing remaining territories.
