Dutch gameshow format I Love My Country has found a new broadcaster in China after the lacklustre performance of its first season in 2009/10.
The format, created by John de Mol's Talpa Media for RTL4 in the Netherlands, has been picked up for a 52x60' run by Hubei TV. The channel covers Hubei province and, via satellite, the rest of China.
Hubei acquired the format after it was locally produced by Sichuan TV for the 2009/10 season. "That series performed only averagely, so we took back the rights and began pitching it to other China broadcasters," Yang Xu, MD of Shanghai- and London-based format broker IPCN, told C21.
She said the new season would debut on Hubei TV in January, adding it will have a "much higher production budget and will be shot in Beijing instead of Sichuan, which means it'll have better access to celebrities."
The format sees celebs quizzed about the history and sporting achievements of their own countries. After debuting on RTL4 in 2008, it was produced locally by TVP2 in Poland, TV Nova in Czech Republic, Sat.1 in Germany and other channels.
In related news, IPCN confirmed to C21 that the Chinese version of UK quiz format The Cube will air in April or March 2012 on Shanghai Media Group's Dragon TV.
The format was picked up from All3Media International in April, but Xu explained: "We spent some time transporting everything from the UK show to China, including the set."
A season of 13 hours will air in China, produced by Dragon TV and IPCN's sister company 80 Entertainment. IPCN also brokered a deal putting Banijay International format Date My Car to web video portal Qiyi.com.
Xu said the show, which was originally expected to debut this month, will now likely launch in December or January. Qiyi is majority-owned by China's largest search engine Baidu and backed by Hulu investor Providence Equity Partners.
