Netflix Takes North American Rights to Tom Fontana's 'Borgia'

5:02 AM PDT 9/28/2011 by Scott Roxborough

Comments

European drama starring John Doman is Netflix's first major international series acquisition.

BERLIN - Netflix has picked up North American rights to Tom Fontana's Borgia, the 15th century crime drama starring John Doman of The Wire, from sales group Beta Film.

Deauville 2011: Tom Fontana Discusses 'Borgia's' Move to Netflix, Plans for Cable (Q&A)

Tom Fontana’s ‘Borgia’

Like Showtime's similarly-themed The Borgias directed by Neil Jordan and starring Jeremy Irons, Borgia follows the misadventures of the power-hungry Borgia family as they strive to rule both church and state in medieval Italy.

Fontana's Borgia is currently running on Italian pay network Sky Italia and will bow next month on the series' other network co-producers: France's Canal Plus, ZDF in Germany and Austria's ORF.

“Netflix is thrilled to bring this compelling tale of family, power and intrigue to our U.S. subscribers,” said Netflix director of content acquisition Elizabeth Bradley. “Our members love sumptuous historical dramas and Borgia is a great one.”

With its deal for the $30 million drama, Netflix is pushing forward with its strategy of acquisition of original series that started with its $100 million order earlier this year of the first 26 episodes of the David Fincher/Kevin Spacey serial House of Cards.