News

 In a major boost for the Teutonic TV business, the U.K.'s Channel 4 has nabbed ZDF's hit miniseries "Dresden," a love story set against the massive Allied bombing of the eastern German city during WWII.

U.K. TV acquisitions of German product are rare."Dresden," which drew 12 million German viewers when it aired in March, has already sold to Japan, Thailand, Spain, Italy and France. Jan Mojto, whose EOS Entertainment co-produced "Dresden" with Berlin-based Teamworx, is also handling international sales through his distrib Beta Film. At its traditional Mip TV brunch in Cannes on Tuesday, Beta unspooled its current lineup, including "The Crown Prince," a lavish E11 million ($13 million) historical mini about the life of Rudolf, son of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz-Joseph, helmed by Robert Dornhelm. EOS Entertainment and Vienna-based MR Film are producing the two-parter for Austria's ORF, German pubcaster ARD and Italy's RAI. Also perking interest among buyers were Teamworx's WWII coming-of-age tale "Not All Were Murders" and "Cold Summer," about an East German family coming to terms with the division of the country.Mojto remains one of Europe's most prolific TV producers, but he's also looking to roll out "an MTV for classical music." Having last year acquired Unitel, the former Kirch-owned production unit and catalog of classical music programs, Mojto was quick to launch classical music outlet Classica on German paybox Premiere, on Sky Italia, in Japan and this year in Spain. Among Unitel's upcoming productions will be this summer's "Three Superstars in Berlin," featuring tenors Placido Domingo and Rolando Villazon and soprano Anna Netrebko.