Building on the success of Ninja Warrior in the US and in Asia, TBS is bringing the action-packed format to Europe with the help of line production specialist Eccholine.

Originally known in Japan as SASUKE, the Ninja Warrior format challenges athletes everywhere to take on the world's most intimidating obstacle course. Over the past three years, productions have been mounted in the United States and Malaysia, where local licensees built casting courses to qualify their countries' best challengers. The winners then traveled to Japan to take on the original Japanese course. Then, in 2012, the US licensee G4 collaborated with its sister network, broadcast giant NBC, to produce a 27-hour American Ninja Warrior series, complete with a six-city casting series and a five-episode grand finale. A replica of the monster four-stage Japanese course was erected in Las Vegas, and America's best tried to overcome the legendary obstacles. The results on the course and on the screen were impressive. The NBC and G4 shows were both hugely successful, with NBC improving its ratings in the time period over the previous year by 82 percent and G4 beating its primetime average by 200 percent with all adults and by over 400 percent with women.

Now, at MIPCOM, TBS and Eccholine will jointly launch a European production plan. TBS will be providing the rights and expertise; Eccholine will be providing the line production. The plan includes a mobile casting course consisting of nine obstacles that will travel from city to city. The taping from each city will produce a week's worth of stripped episodes culminating in a primetime show crowning the city's champions. The roadshow itself will create a unique event wherever it goes and spark a local Ninja Warrior phenomenon. After visiting several cities, the top performers will descend upon a Europe-based recreation of the mammoth four-stage Japanese course, creating a primetime finale like no other. According to Makito Sugiyama, international program and format licensing lead for TBS, "This new initiative is the culmination of years of experience with a unique format. With Eccholine on board, we have found a way to bring the excitement of Ninja Warrior to broadcasters in Europe without burdening them with the complexity of the production." Eccholine's production chief, Gert Van Kerckhove is equally excited: ?"Ninja Warrior is ready to become a unique television event in Europe. Our mobile course will travel from city to city and each contestant will have to give his utmost best when he finds himself surrounded by an audience of friends, family and fans. Ninja Warrior has all the ingredients to grow into a community of dedicated competitors and fans."

■ About Bellon Entertainment Inc.

Bellon Entertainment is an international distributor of television programs and formats. Its activities include the exclusive representation of entertainment programs and formats from Tokyo Broadcasting System Television.

■ About Eccholine

Eccholine is the world's first dedicated line production company, producing high-quality, non-scripted, primetime entertainment in a unique, smart, and very cost-efficient manner. Led by industry veterans Ludo Poppe, Gert Van Kerckhove and Axel Boer, the company changes the way big event productions are done, (co-) investing in pilots and development and managing the quality control of the IP it produces.