Virgin Media secures exclusive VoD rights to US drama

Kingdom

Liberty Global-owned UK cable operator Virgin Media has struck a deal with Endemol Shine International to acquire US mixed-martial arts drama Kingdom exclusively for its on-demand platform.

The show will be available to Virgin Media customers via an exclusive licensing deal from April 1.

Virgin Media has signed an exclusive licensing deal with the distributor for the first two series of Kingdom comprising of thirty one-hour episodes.

The deal was negotiated by James Braham, Endemol Shine International’s Senior Sales Director UK and Ireland and Gill Hay, Director of Content Partnerships from Virgin Media.

The first six episodes of the show will be available to Virgin Media TV XL customers via the on-demand service from April 1, followed by a new episode released each week. The final episode of season one will be broadcast alongside the first episode of season two.

“When choosing our exclusive programmes we look for edgy, immersive stories with exciting talent, a strong genre and characters with real depth,” said David Bouchier, chief digital entertainment officer at Virgin Media.

“We want to bring our customers something distinctive which they won’t otherwise see on British TV. Kingdom ticks all of these boxes and I know our customers are going to love it. We’ve got huge plans for Virgin TV this year and there’s no better way to start than with a Kingdom-sized roundhouse kick.”

Cathy Payne, chief executive of Endemol Shine International said “ESI are thrilled that Virgin Media are bringing Kingdom to the UK audience.  We are confident Kingdom will be embraced by viewers here in the UK as is has across the USA, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Latin America, to name a few of the territories where the series has built a strong following.”