'America's Got Talent' goes international

FremantleMedia (FME) are to take Americas Got Talent across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas in a new deal announced this week.

Paul Ridley, recently promoted to FME senior vice president, sales, Asia Pacific, has secured a pan-regional deal for the show in Asia Pacific with Star TV, as well as a deal with On Media in Korea.

Ganesh Rajaram, also promoted recently to vice president, sales, Asia, has brokered several deals for the series including Mediacorp TV in Singapore, TVB in Hong Kong, Solar in the Philippines and UBC TV, Thailand.

In the Americas, FME has secured a pan-regional deal for the show across Latin America and the Caribbean with Sony, in Canada, FME has also inked both English and French deals with CTV and TVA Groupe respectively. Ireland's TV3, Sweden's TV4, Channel 4 in Finland, 365 Media in Iceland, Seven Network in Australia and SKY TV in New Zealand, as well as ITV2 in the UK have also picked up the show.

FME chief executive David Ellender said: "Broadcasters all over the world continue to show a massive appetite for variety and talent shows and they have responded tremendously well in particular to this show’s extraordinary talent."

Simon Jones, senior vice president, operations and international, Syco TV said: "I am delighted with how well America’s Got Talent is selling around the world. The show has really captured people’s imagination and its success reflects the energy and commitment of our distribution partners at FremantleMedia Enterprises."