Absolutely sold The Phone format into South Korea

The CJ channel to air the show is not yet confirmed but eight 45-minute episodes have been greenlit and the format’s creator, Dutch prodco Park Lane TV, is onboard as consultants.

‘This is the first format sale in Korea. The quality we have seen from the Koreans, on a creative and production level, makes us look forward to an excellent adaptation’, said Patty Geneste, Absolutely Independent president and CEO, who took over as chair of formats protection body Frapa last month.

The Phone was originally aired on Dutch pubcaster Avro and sees two random city-dwelling contestants undertaking tasks to win cash prizes after answering a mobile phone call.

The format has previously been adapted by broadcasters in 15 territories, including MTV in the US and India, Abu Dhabi TV, Alpha TV in Greece and Fox8 in Australia.

A Kód this week debuts in RTL Klub
On the other side of the world, Hungarian channel RTL Klub debuted the Q&A gameshow called A Kód this week, also adapted from a format from Absolutely Independent, which recently sold half of its business to Imagine Nation.

The daily show launched on Monday at 19.00 and attracted a 35% share, compared with the channel’s average of 29% in the same primetime slot. The 19.00 time period was previously home to local versions of Minute to Win It and Take It or Leave It.

‘We believed in A Kód from the very beginning, and saw great potential in it as a daily show’, said Peter Kolosi, director of programming at RTL Klub. IKO Productions, owned by the management of RTL Klub, is producing 63 half-hours of the show.