ITV Studios sells hit cookery format to UK-based Iranian satellite broadcaster Marjan, Ireland’s TV3 and Cyprus’s CYBC

By Mark Sweeney

Source:

October 4, 2010

An Iranian version of Come Dine With Me filmed in the UK is to be broadcast in .

Studios has sold the format to a UK-based satellite broadcaster Marjan Television Network, which will broadcast the show in Iran on new channel Manoto 1.

The new channel is scheduled to launch at the end of the month and Marjan has ordered 30 episodes of Come Dine With Me. Manoto 1 will make the shows in the UK featuring Iranian diners.

ITV Studios has also signed deals with broadcasters in Ireland and Cyprus, bringing the number of countries broadcasting their own versions of the Channel 4 hit up to 30.

Ireland’s TV3 has also ordered 30 local episodes of the show, which will be produced by ITV Studios, while Cyprus’s public broadcaster CYBC has signed for 65 episodes. The show will be made by CYBC’s in-house production team and will air in early 2011.

ITV Studios has also signed a multi-year extension with Channel 4 for new daytime and prime-time episodes of Come Dine With Me.

“Come Dine With Me continues to prove its popularity on the international stage, increasing audience shares and becoming a long-term schedule fixture in many territories,” said the ITV Studios director of global television distribution, Tobi De Graaff. “This proven global success combined with its extremely efficient and cost-effective production has created a very popular and trusted format for international broadcasters to commission.”

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