Yesterday invests in 26 hours of fascinating factual content

Yesterday invests in 26 hours of fascinating factual content

Wednesday 8th October 2014

Yesterday, Britain?s biggest factual channel and part of UKTV?s multi-award winning network of 10 channels, today announced two pre-sale deals with IMG for Secrets of the Bible and Raiders of the Lost Past, which have been made by UK factual production house World Media Rights.

Adrian Wills, General Manager for Yesterday, ordered both these new series and the deal was negotiated by UKTV?s Head of Acquisitions and Co-Productions Alexandra Finlay. Both series are planned for Q2 2015.

Wills commented,

Secrets of the Bible and Raiders of the Lost Past feature fascinating true stories that Yesterday viewers will love. Many of us know about the miracles written in the Bible and have heard about the mysteries and legends surrounding hidden treasure, but would like to learn more. Both these series will allow audiences to become absorbed by these ancient tales and provide a fresh and engaging perspective.

Secrets of the Bible, 13 x 60?, focuses on explorers on a mission to uncover the truth behind extraordinary biblical events. Whether motivated by faith, greed, evil or curiosity, these people have dedicated their lives to these impossible quests. Stories in this series include the search for the legendary Ark of the Covenant, the hunt for the Tower of Babel, and the investigation into the mystery of how the Israelites parted the Red Sea.

Raiders of the Lost Past, 13 x 60?, tells the stories of daring, dramatic and dangerous searches for some of history?s most legendary and possibly non-existent hidden treasures. The search for ancient ships which have come to rest in the Mojave Desert and the hunt for a Mayan City thought to be lost deep in the Central American jungle are just some of the stories featured in this third series.

Alexandra Finlay commented,

We?re delighted to be working with World Media Rights again on these two brand new programmes. The first two series of Raiders of the Lost Past, Ancient Blacks Ops, Black Ops, and CIA Declassified, which have all been produced by World Media Rights, have proved to be compelling, engaging and popular with Yesterday viewers.

The UK deal follows a host of international licenses for this series (which is known internationally as Myth Hunters) covering the United States, Australia, Germany and Scandinavia. It is distributed by IMG Media.

World Media Rights? CEO, Alan Griffiths added,

Raiders of the Lost Past has been very successful both in the UK and in fifty five countries around the world as it is a series which can retain a male audience ? and also attract a large female one.

World Media Rights Creative Director, Matthew Barrett says,

Many of the extraordinary band of adventurers featured in Secrets of the Bible have dedicated their lives to prove the scared testaments are true ? and have put a lot of effort into researching them. These films show what they uncovered.

Yesterday is the home of fascinating factual stories, with the channel currently reaching 12.88 million viewers a month. In 2014 World Media Right?s second series of Black Ops performed +55% on its slot average and Ancient Black Ops was up +26%, and +200% with the 16 ? 24 year old audiences.

ENDS

For more information please contact

Emily Jones, Publicist, Factual

For further information on World Media Rights please contact Alan Griffiths 0208 600 7911 alan@worldmediarights.com

Notes to Editors

About Yesterday

www.yesterdaytv.co.uk / Twitter: @yesterdaytweets / facebook.com/yesterdaytvchannel

Yesterday provides entertainment inspired by history.

Showcasing new series such as Raiders of the Lost Past, Mafia?s Greatest Hits, Medieval Dead and Instruments of Death - Yesterday seeks to redefine what history is.

Where to find Yesterday: Sky channel 537, Virgin TV channel 203 and Freeview channel 19.

About UKTV

UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers every month.

UKTV's eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, Watch, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food - include the most popular non-PSB channel in the UK and account for 9% of the British commercial TV market. The company?s most recent financial results showed record-breaking year?end revenue of £278m, and EBITDA of £67.4m. It invested a record £125m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.

UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.

Now celebrating its 21st year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.

corporate.uktv.co.uk / pressoffice.uktv.co.uk / @uktv_press

About World Media Rights

World Media Rights (WMR) is currently one of the largest factual programme producers in the UK. It is also one of the few fully independent UK producers ? as it is not part of a larger media group. Created in 2007 it now supplies factual TV programming to over fifty countries globally and its programmes are regularly broadcast on channels and platforms including Discovery (in Europe and the USA), CCTV in China, Netflix, France Television, Planete, ZDF, Foxtel, Mediaset and UKTV. The WMR senior management team includes Alan Griffiths (CEO) and Matthew Barrett (Creative Director).