The first day of MIPTV 2013 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes proved to be a big success for Abú Media who have just announced they sold the scripted and format rights for their IFTA-winning reality series ‘Jockey Eile’ to distributor Sparks Network / Eccho Rights.
The programme is to re-branded as ‘Jockey Stars’ and will now escape Irish shores to far flung territories around the world.
Series producer Pierce Boyce described his delight at the partnership with Sparks Network/ Eccho Rights to distribute their format.
‘This is a great prime time family entertainment format that we know will hit the target in any territory that acquires it. It is fantastic for us to have a distributor with the track record and global reach of Sparks handling our property and it gives us great confidence that we can get exposure to markets that as an independent company we would never reach,' he said.
'Jockey Eile' was awarded the IFTA in February for 'Best Reality Series', beating off competition from such heavyweight formats as ‘MasterChef’ and ‘Come Dine With Me’.
‘It’s the perfect start to the market for us really and hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the week,’ Mr Boyce added.
The second series of ‘Jockey Eile’ is in pre-production and will start shooting in May, for airing on TG4 in September.
