Fox Entertainment buys Marvista Entertainment as part of digital push

Falling Inn Love

Fox Entertainment is expanding its production interests by acquiring Falling Inn Love distributor MarVista Entertainment.

The deal hands the US broadcaster access to the LA-based producer and sales firm that was co-founded by Fernando Szew in 2003, whose catalogue runs to more than 2,500 hours of programming across genres.

MarVista will continue to be led by Szew, who in turn reports into Fox Entertainment president of production strategy & operations, Stefan Reinhardt.

Tubi focus

The company, which is been behind Amazon Prime’s soon-to-be-released Christmas Is Cancelled and Candy Coated Christmas for Discovery+, will now focus on developing and producing content for Fox’s digital platforms, including AVOD service Tubi.

Fernando Szew

Marvista has recently worked with the streamer on thrillers including Twisted House Sitter and The Deadliest Lie, as well as holiday-themed A Chance For Christmas.

Fox added that the deal would “expand upon its diverse list of next-generation talent by leveraging and fostering MarVista’s first-time storytellers, creators and directors”.

The US broadcaster will also aim to identify opportunities for improved production operations company-wide, based on MarVista’s approach to development and production.

Diversifying in-house capabilities

Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier said Marvista’s “track record of prolific creative output, a vast library of owned titles and an efficient approach to production” would assist his company in its “long-term vision for streaming and diversifying our in-house capabilities and infrastructure.”

Szew added: “As the content distribution landscape has evolved and become more ubiquitous and sophisticated, we are proud of the uniqueness of MarVista’s innovative practices and offerings and expect to propel our growth as part of Fox Entertainment.

Reinhardt added that Marvista would also assist Fox’s strategy to “build a library of high-quality, original content and enhance our ability to support even more third-party productions.”

MarVista is the latest addition for Fox, which acquired entertainment platform TMZ this summer and partnered with Gordon Ramsay for recently formed Studio Ramsay Global. It also owns animation studio Bento Box Entertainment and operates in-house unscripted studio, Fox Alternative Entertainment.