German media firms join forces for Gold VOD service

A raft of producers and distributors from the German TV and movie business have joined forces to form Germany’s Gold, a new venture that will launch a video-on-demand service using the partners’ content.

Seventeen companies are involved in the service, which will be based in Berlin. The firms include Beta Film, ZDF. MME Moviement and Studio Hamburg.

The direct-to-consumer service needs approval from the German antitrust office and, assuming that is forthcoming, will launch this year. It will be run by Studio Hamburg’s Antoine Schmidt-Roy and Jochen Kröhne who has run Tele 5, History Channel and other channels in the German market.

A brand name for the service has yet to be announced. The content line-up will cover TV drama, documentaries, kids programming, TV movies and feature films. There will be subscription and pay-per-view models as well as advertising-supported content.

The full list of companies taking part in Germany’s Gold is: Autentic GmbH, Bavaria Fernsehproduktion GmbH, Beta Film GmbH, Brainpool Artist & Content Services GmbH, MME Moviement AG, neue deutsche Filmgesellschaft mbH, Opal Filmproduktion GmbH, Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv GmbH, Studio Hamburg Produktion Gruppe GmbH, SWR Media Services GmbH, Telepool GmbH, TV 60 Filmproduktion GmbH, TV Plus GmbH, WDR mediagroup GmbH, ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Ziegler Film GmbH & Co. KG, ZieglerFilm Köln GmbH.