COLOGNE, Germany — SevenOne International, the sales division of European broadcast group ProSiebenSat.1, has launched a U.S. division headed by regional sales director Caroline Kusser.
The L.A.-based operation will handle SevenOne sales to U.S. broadcasters — such as the group’s recent sale of format You Deserve It to ABC or the remake rights to hit German sitcom Danni Lowinski to CBS.
Kisser will also pick up world sales for third party U.S. productions, such as Lifetime’s upcoming royal wedding MOW William & Kate, which SevenOne is co-producing as well as handling sales outside the U.S. SevenOne also plans to work with local production outfits interested in doing U.S. versions of its hit international formats.
SevenOne managing director Jens Richter said fiction programming would be a major focus of its new operation, producing or acquiring English-language comedy and drama for sale to the U.S. and U.K.
“These two major TV markets almost never dub foreign programming, so by substantially expanding our portfolio of English-language content, we will break through thelanguage barrier,” Richter said.
The move stateside is a logical next step in SevenOne’s strategy, which has seen the company expand rapidly over the past year. SevenOne’s production arm Red Arrow has spent the last 12 months inking multiple production and sales deals with format heavyweights including Dick de Rijk (Deal or No Deal), Phil Gurin (Singing Bee) and Israel’s Omri Marcus.
