More than 150 titles available through almost 50 companies worldwide - Polish Public Television’s licence sales in the first half of 2023.

The first half of 2023 was marked by successes at TVP Sales and International Relations Department. The International Rights and Licenses Sales unit executed more than 50 licence agreements with customers all over the world.

Fot. TVP

Particularly noteworthy is the number of package agreements covering dozens of titles, as well as the popularity of feature films that premiered this year. The most popular film is "Filip", directed by Michał Kwieciński. There were seven agreements concluded for this film, covering the territories of Australia, Japan, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, the UK and Bulgaria. Also very popular are the films: "March '68", directed by Krzysztof Lang (4 agreements: with Denmark, Bulgaria, Hungary and Sweden), "Prophet", directed by Michał Kondrat (also 4 agreements: Spain and Andorra, France, Bulgaria, Poland) "Hitler's Aunt", directed by Michał Rogalski (3 agreements: Canada, Bulgaria and United Arab Emirates).

Polish series are popular abroad too. In last six months, the most desired ones were "Wartime Girls" directed by Michał Rogalski, Filip Zylber (USA, Canada, Spain, South America including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Columbia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela) "Paths to Freedom", dir. Maciej Migas (USA, Canada, South America, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria), "Our Century" directed by Piotr Trzaskalski and Michał Rogalski (USA, Canada, Spain, South America, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey), "Prosecutor" directed by Jacek Filipiak and Maciej Pieprzyca (USA, Canada, Spain, South America and others).

Interestingly enough, Hungarian public television MTVA, concluded 2 agreements for "The Crown of The Kings" (dir. Wojciech Pacyna and others) extending the previous licences for the 1st and 2nd series and acquiring the rights to broadcast the continuation of this series, titled "The Crown of the Kings. The Jagiellonians". A partner from UK acquired worldwide rights to the premiered series "Erynies", directed by Borys Lankosz, and "Crusade", directed by Łukasz Ostalski.

In addition, TVP has signed an output deal with a renowned Spanish distributor for a period of three years. This is the first such agreement in the history of Polish content sales. It guarantees annual sales in Spain for TVP and the priority in making an offer and access to the catalogue for the distributor. Almost 30 years after its premiere, the film 'Faustina' has been appreciated again. All rights, including theatrical, were sold to France.

TVP sold largest packages to the following territories: Argentina; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Ecuador; Guatemala; Spain; Honduras; Canada; Colombia; Costa Rica; Mexico; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Puerto Rico; El Salvador; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela (23 series and feature films, totalling 258 hours), Egypt and the Middle East, that is Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen (15 series and documentaries, totalling 24 hours), the Netherlands (5 films by K. Kieslowski and 'Decalogue') Hungary (5 series and feature films) while 5 deals involving a total of 22 titles were for inflight rights.

Despite the war in Ukraine, cooperation with this country continues, as it acquired licences for 4 documentaries and the series "Conspirators" directed by Jarosław Marszewski. An immanent element of TVP's activity is also granting of screening rights to cultural institutions. In the first half of the year, there were more than 20 screenings and many titles were screened more than once. Among them, "March '68" and the works of Krzysztof Kieślowski were particularly popular.

The Sales and International Relations Department also grants rights to excerpts from films and cultural programmes. In the first half of 2023, there was genuine interest, for example, in excerpts from the 18th Frederic Chopin Piano Competition and footage from concerts, including archival recordings of the Sopot Festival.