India’s Zee Entertainment and Japan’s TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting Company) have signed a partnership agreement, where both media conglomerates will develop new formats for content as well as co-produce a factual series called ‘Spiceman Trails: Asia’, as a joint first effort. This TV series will be similar to many culinary travel-vlogs, but unlike most of them, this show will delve deep into the historic spice routes of the East. These two unlikely partners entered into the multi-part deal during MIPTV 2021, the longest running international television market taking place in Cannes each April.
In 2021, MIPTV went online for their 58th Spring International Television Market in Cannes earlier this April – called Digital MIPTV. This was to bring together global distributors, producers, streamers, buyers and commissioners of drama, entertainment, doc, kids, factual and formats programming, among others, together, for a curated week of pre-scheduled 1-to-1 business meetings, matchmaking opportunities, exclusive market intelligence, conference sessions and global networking.
Under this new deal, both TBS and Zee Entertainment will develop formats across multiple genres to cater to the demands for both of their respective domestic markets as well as for overseas distribution (The connections of both companies will help in spreading the content far and wide). As mentioned earlier, the very first collaboration between both media giants will be the culinary travel guide called ‘Spiceman Trails: Asia’. In a joint statement, both companies expressed their hope in creating an entertaining show while portraying the deep-rooted history and rich culture behind the various spices and multi-layered varieties of cuisine.
As many of us know Zee is a conglomerate in India, but TBS is just as big. The Japanese media company just celebrated its 70th anniversary this year. Their biggest international exports include classic production formats such as ‘Sasuke’ (the original ’Ninja Warrier’ series) and of course, the brilliant ‘Takeshi’s Castle’. The latter is still one of the most watched Japanese TV shows in the country (meaning India) – more than any anime (surprisingly ..or not).
We can’t wait to see what other content they will collaborate together on, but it sure looks promising.