Zinc Media divisions pick up several new TV commissions

Television and multimedia content producer Zinc Media Group announced on Thursday that its television subsidiaries, Blakeway and Tern Television, have been awarded four significant production commissions.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following completion of its acquisition by Zinc Media in December, Tern Television was commissioned to produce three series across the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

It explained that Tern Television secured its first Channel 5 commission, 'Extreme Planes', which would be a three-part series.

The programme would use amateur clips to examine plane crashes, take-offs and landings, and near misses.

Additionally, following the 2017 success of the programme 'Flights From Hell - Caught on Camera', Channel 4 commissioned Tern Television to produce a four-part series, 'Holidays from Hell.'

The new series would comprise user generated content footage, human testimony and expert revelation to the worlds of cruises, holidays, flights and trains.

Finally, 'Britain's Lost Masterpieces' was recommissioned by BBC Network for a third three-part series on BBC Four, which would be produced from Tern Television's Belfast base.

The programme featured in a number of news outlets when the first series revealed an undiscovered Raphael painting in Aberdeenshire, while the second series uncovered a Rubens piece in Glasgow.

At its Blakeway division, Zinc said that following the success of the 'Wonderful World of Puppies' series, which achieved high audience ratings, it was commissioned by Channel 5 to produce a follow up 12-part prime time series.

The company’s board said the commission illustrated the successful shift in strategy being rolled out by the new managing director of Blakeway, Lucy van Beek, as the company focussed on securing long running, high-quality returnable formats.

“We are delighted that we have been awarded these high-profile and significant commissions with BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5,” said Zinc Media chief executive David Galan.

“The commissions serve to not only highlight and reinforce our strategy of securing long-running, high-quality programmes but also demonstrate the strength of our newly-acquired subsidiary Tern Television, which continues to secure valuable contracts and to go from strength-to-strength.”