HBO Max Bites at Channel 4 Hit ‘The Dog House’

HBO Max has acquired U.S. streaming rights to hit Channel 4 series “The Dog House” from distributor All3Media International.

Produced by Five Mile Films for Channel 4, “The Dog House” follows the joy, comedy and pathos of the human-dog dating experience at a British dog rescue center.

The eight-part first season will be available on WarnerMedia’s upcoming SVOD service HBO Max in the U.S.

Broadcast rights to the series have also been picked up by VRT for Flemish Belgium, SVT in Sweden, Yleisradio Oy-TV1 in Finland, TV2 in Denmark and Sýn hf for Iceland.

TVNZ in New Zealand and Network 10 in Australia have secured TV rights to the first season, while Canada’s CBC has acquired the first season as well as the recently commissioned new season as a pre-sale. Also in Canada, Société Radio-Canada has signed digital rights to the first season.

All3Media International is also shopping format rights to “The Dog House,” and deals are under discussion in France, Sweden, Finland and Portugal.

Set inside a rural British dog rescue center that matches homeless dogs with new owners, each episode of “The Dog House” records the arrivals of unwanted pets complete with tales of abandonment.

At the same time, each episode tells stories of dog-hungry humans hoping their lives might be transformed by the introduction of a new four-legged friend. The climax of each story is the theater of the meet, with multiple fixed cameras mounted inside a special pen observing the first dynamics of the first introduction between the dogs and their prospective new owners.

The first season of “The Dog House” debuted strongly on Channel 4 in the U.K. in September 2019. Channel 4 said the show was its second highest rating new series launch at 8 p.m. among the 16-34 age group in 2019 and the fourth biggest in its time slot for all viewers.

Channel 4 announced a recommission of a further 18 one-hour episodes earlier this year.

Sally Habbershaw, exec VP Americas at All3Media International, commented: “Five Mile Films’ ‘The Dog House’ offers the ultimate in feel-good television, exploring this heart-warming – and often heart-rending – experience from both sides.”