CTV Acquires Canadian Rights to ABC's 'The Taste'

The deal with Red Arrow International sees the Canadian broadcaster air the U.S. cooking competition series with star judges Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson.

TORONTO – Canadian broadcaster CTV has acquired the Canadian rights to ABC’s The Taste from German sales group Red Arrow International.

The nine-episode order from ABC for the U.S. version of The Taste sees famous foodies Nigella Lawson and Anthony Bourdain head up a panel of four judges in a competition to pick America´s most skilled chef.

Mike Cosentino, senior vp of programming at CTV Networks at Bell Media said the new twist on the cooking competition genre and big-name casting would “satisfy Canadians ever growing appetite for food-centric programming.”

CTV will start airing The Taste as a two-part premiere on Jan. 22 and Jan. 27, before the competition series takes a regular time-slot on Tuesdays from January 29.

Created by Kinetic Content, Red Arrow's U.S. subsidiary, The Taste is executive-produced by Chris Coelen, Matilda Zoltowski, Emma Conway, Bourdain and Lawson.

Sales of The Taste have already been made to Fox for India, Australia’s Nine Network and M6 in France.