True Blood in Central Europe

Alan Ball's successful HBO TV Series "True Blood" will be hitting the airwaves in Central Europe broadcasting Season 1 in Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia. European HBO feels confident that "True Blood" will be as successful in Central Europe as it has been in North America because of the history of the region. Stories of Dracula and vampires originated in the area and is well embedded in the folklore of the region. Ondrej Zach, VP of programming & acquisitions, states:

"We're confident because we've seen the results in the United States," Zach says. "We are getting a strong reaction from the press. In those territories where we see numbers, (such as) Poland and Hungary, we have a strong and positive audience reaction." The series may resonate here for more bloodthirsty reasons. Central Europe, after all, gave the world its first vampires: from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula," set in Transylvania (now part of Romania), to Slavic countries like Serbia and Croatia where vampire myths are folklore. "I don't think there is anybody (from this region) who doesn't know what vampires are," Zach says."

Noemi Kertesz, PR and Communications Coordinator for HBO Hungary, believe that the vampire theme will do very well in the Central European television markets. Using the movie "Twilight" as an example Kertesz states that the movie did very well Hungary and Alan Ball's previous hit show "Six Feet Under" was well received across central Europe. VP Zach is confident that "True Blood" will be a great success because of the quality that goes into HBO Productions. Here is a list of the various European websites dedicated to "True Blood": Poland - http://www.czystakrew.hbo.pl/ Hungary- http://www.trueblood.hbo.hu/ Czech - http://www.trueblood.hbo.cz/ Romania- http://www.trueblood.hbo.ro/ Croatia- http://www.trueblood.hbo.hr/ Serbia - http://www.trueblood.hbo.co.yu/ http://www.hbo-centraleurope.com/ SOURCE: Variety:  "HBO brings 'Blood' to Central Europe" (Photo credit: HBO Inc.)

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