Banijay Rights, the leading distribution arm of Banijay Group, today announces that following conversations held at NATPE MIAMI, it has sold the exclusive documentary, Thomas Markle: My Story, to pay TV provider, OnDIRECTV Latin America, as well as to a raft of international broadcasters.

Thomas Markle: My Story (1 x 90’), from Alaska TV, features up-to-the-minute, first-person insight into one of the biggest international news stories this year; the decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to step down from royal duties.
First broadcast on the UK’s Channel 5 in January, achieving nearly double the slot average, the one-off special has now been snapped up by Latin American broadcaster. The pay TV provider will broadcast the show in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, through its OnDIRECTV channel – a network that brings a host of entertaining content to the region through original productions as well as acclaimed movies, series, documentaries, concerts, and over-the-top (OTT) service, DIRECTV GO.

Less than a month since it premiered, the just-inked deal can be added to a raft of worldwide sales for the exclusive documentary, including; Movistar+ in Spain, RTL and VTM in Belgium, yes and Channel 8 in Israel, New Zealand’s TVNZ, Discovery Nordics and Virgin Media in Ireland.

Coming bang up to date with reaction to the most recent worldwide headlines, Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, is telling his side of the story for the first-ever time in this premium feature documentary. With first person testimony and his never-before-seen archive of stills and videos of Meghan, he will reveal his version of events which led him to be the Grandfather of a boy he has never met but is seventh in line to be King of the United Kingdom.

A sensitive and respectful one-off special, Thomas Markle: My Story was commissioned by Daniel Pearl (Leaving Neverland) and executive produced by double BAFTA-winning Paul Sommers.

Elliott Chalkley, Vice President of Sales at Banijay Rights, comments, “The documentary created a great buzz at NATPE Miami and we are thrilled to see how quickly that has translated into sales. Thomas Markle: My Story is an important record, portrayed in a sensitive manner by an award-winning creative team. Our partners at DIRECTV recognised this immediately and we are hugely proud to be instrumental in giving it the global exposure it deserves.”

“The decision by Harry and Meghan to step down from royal duties is one of the big headlines of 2020,” says Willard Tressel, GM of OnDIRECTV, “Thomas Markle: My Story made headlines on its own and added a wholly different perspective to the story our Latin American audience is fascinated by.”