CoComelon and Blippi owner Moonbug Entertainment has shared details of its IP acquisition strategy, telling TBI that the company is open to pitches from potential partners of existing scale as it continues its global expansion. The Candle Media-backed kids content firm, which recently hired Warner Bros. Discovery alum Yasmin Zahid to lead its push into […]
The CW Network in the US has ordered Crime Nation, its first-ever true crime series, to be produced by former ABC News president James Goldston. Hailing from the Goldston-led Candle True Stories, the non-fiction arm of Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Blackstone-backed Candle Media, the anthology series will debut in early 2024. Each two-hour episode […]
Disney chief Bob Iger has hired former executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs to serve as consultants as the Mouse House looks to define its legacy TV strategy. The move comes after Iger’s recent admission that Disney’s linear TV divisions such as ABC, FX and Nat Geo “may not be core” to the business, with […]
Candle Media-owned Hello Sunshine has hired former Disney exec Lauren Kisilevsky to lead its kids and family division. Kisilevsky will become EVP of live-action family, kids and young adults at Hello Sunshine, which was acquired by Candle for $900m in 2021. She will work across movies and TV series, reporting into Hello Sunshine CEO, Sarah […]
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has launched a new non-fiction division, headed up by former ABC News president James Goldston. It will focus on scripted and unscripted series and films that have been inspired by real events, with Goldston serving as president of the new arm. Goldston left ABC News in 2021, having […]
The global TV industry is streamlining, with a sharp uptick in M&A activity over the past 12 months. Mark Layton digs into the numbers to see who is spending the most, where and on what. In the past 12 months it has felt like barely a week has passed without an acquisition deal of one […]
Moonbug CEO Rene Rechtman tells Mark Layton about the firm’s expanding ambitions following its $3bn takeover by Candle Media and the rights strategy that lets them engage with kids on any platform Having launched just four years ago, London and LA-based Moonbug Entertainment has established itself quickly – to the extent that its shows now […]
Fauda producer Faraway Road Productions has hired Armoza exec Salome Peillon as COO and Keshet Studios’ Adi Ezroni, as EVP of content. Peillon, the former head of international sales at ITV-backed Armoza Formats will now oversee the studio’s global operations. Ezroni, previously the co-head of features and VP of TV at Keshet Studios, will meanwhile […]
UK-based Cocomelon outfit Moonbug Entertainment has acquired One Animation, the Singapore-based media company and production studio behind children’s animation Oddbods. The Rene Rechtman-led Moonbug plans to expand Oddbods’ global distribution reach and grow the brand into new formats, products and experiences. One Animation’s team will join Moonbug, but will remain in Singapore and continue developing and […]
Blackstone-backed Candle Media’s acquisition spree continues as the Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs-led firm has bought Spanish-language studio Exile Content. Founded in 2019 by former Univision and Televisa CCO Isaac Lee, LA-based Exile produces feature film, scripted and unscripted television, music and audio content for global Spanish speaking audiences. Lee and Exile’s current senior management […]
