The third season of the ITV/PBS co-production ‘Sanditon’, distributed by BBC Studios, is set to debut on PBS in the US this month. The show originally aired in the UK on ITV but its second season instead debuted as a BritBox Original. Around the world, the series has found many homes in both the first and second window.
In Australia and Poland BBC Studios has engaged in some vertical integration, licensing the show to their own channel BBC First, a type of activity more often associated with US studios and their SVOD services. Elsewhere, various services including Free TV, Pay TV and SVOD have acquired Sanditon in the first window.
In Latin America the AMC-owned channel Film & Arts acquired the series, transmitting the show on its linear channel only, with no catch-up available. For Brazil Globoplay managed to secure a premiere earlier than its Pay TV rival, effectively taking its place as the first window premiere in the market.
Despite its challenges, BBC Studios managed to sell ‘Sanditon’ in China to Youku, but it was around 18 months after its original debut in the UK. The only Show Tracker market yet to premiere the series is India.
Season 1 took almost two years to reach as many Show Tracker markets as it had in the first window. Season 2 has reached almost two-thirds of available Show Tracker markets despite the season being less than a year old, as many of the later buyers of season 1 have been happy to acquire season 2 promptly after its release. As season 3 was filmed back-to-back after season 2 in 2021 the gap between these last two seasons is much shorter than the gap following season 1, with BBC Studios no doubt hopeful they can quickly sell the final season to its previous seasons’ buyers.
As the cost of licensing grows it becomes more sensible for local services to find opportunities in older shows that they may be able to licence for lower fees. Such a tactic can also benefit a show’s distributor, with an older show’s first season almost acting as a trial for a prospective buyer who may then be willing to come back for subsequent seasons as they are released.
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