DramaFever, one of the biggest online providers of international TV, has partnered with Hwa & Dam Pictures to produce “Heirs,” its first in-house production, the company will announce on Monday.
More than 6 million viewers flock to DramaFever, which has a library of more than 13,000 episodes from 70 different broadcastsers and studios around the globe. It offers both a free and subscription service, and though most of its shows hail from Asia most of its viewers reside in North and South America.
“Heirs” is not only its first in-house production, but also the first co-production between a Korean company and a U.S. digital distributor.
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Written by Kim Eun Sook, “Heirs” is a romantic drama depicting a group of high schools students groomed to take over their families’ respective corporate empires.
It will premiere on Korean television network SBS Oct. 9 and then air on both SBS and DramaFever for 10 weeks. DramaFever holds exclusive distribution rights in North and South America, as well as the rights to shop the show to other platforms like Netflix and Hulu.
“In the coming months, and certainly into 2014, we’ll be developing and co-producing more original made-for-web and broadcast-level programming,” DramaFever Co-Founder and Co-CEO Suk Park said in a statement.
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The move into production comes as DramaFever is expanding its licensed offerings as well. The service recently signed a deal with Telemundo and will soon announce a syndication deal with Japanese TV network Fuji TV.
Fuji TV will provide hit shows from its library, including “Switch Girl,” “Future Diary” and “Last Cinderella.”
“Japanese programming has captured a strong audience on DramaFever and the addition of premium titles from Fuji TV will give our audience of over 6M viewers an excellent range of series to stream,” Park said in a statement.