BBC Studios yesterday announced that it has sold the format rights to A Question of Sport in Slovakia and Greece as CEETV reported first.

In Greece a deal for a 60-episode series was brokered with Foss Productions. Known locally as The Big Game the series will air on Mondays and Tuesdays in primetime on ERT1 featuring Greek basketball legend Panayiotis Giannakis, swimming champion Yiannis Drymonakos and rhythmic gymnastics champion Klelia Pantazi amongst others. The host of the show is the presenter, journalist and cinematographer George Lentzas. As CEETV reported yesterday, the format got off to a slow start in the Greek primetime.

Also in Greece, agreement has been struck with JK Productions to produce an eighty-episode second series of The Weakest Link for Skai. Tasos Tryfonos who also hosts the Cypriot version of the show, presides over the rapid- fire quiz which began its run last month.

The agreements in Greece follow the launch of A Question of Sport in Slovakia on STV1 this month with former IIHF World Champion ice hockey goaltender Ján Lašák and eight-time Slovak basketball player of the year, Radoslav Rančík, as resident captains.

After a hugely successful first series which saw it perform 16% above slot average and rate one of the top programs for 14-44 year olds, Weakest Link will be returning to the channel MIR TV in Russia, BBC Studios confirmed. Former Olympic champion Maria Kiselyova, will once again host the 32-episode series which will begin production next month. The program is produced by Studio 2V, which has successfully created Weakest Link and other TV content for Russian television.

Andre Renaud, SVP Global Format Sales said “Gameshows resonate around the world, as viewers can play at home with their friends and family, and having brilliant brands like Weakest Link, A Question of Sport and Mastermind prove that this genre can still find new homes and also reach new audiences. I’m confident that these series will continue to bring humor, tension, and even more general knowledge gameplayers to new homes around the world.”