Banijay Group has acquired 7Wonder, the UK-based unscripted producer behind the British remake of My Kitchen Rules. The deal, financial terms of which were not revealed, marks a first non-scripted acquisition for the superindie since Banijay and Zodiak Media Group merged in February 2016. Banijay has made a number of additions to its scripted ranks, […]
Richard Holloway will step down from his duties as interim CEO of FremantleMedia UK but remains atop of prodco Thames, with Channel 4 entertainment chief Liam Humphreys (pictured) taking over the unscripted side of the business. Along with his role as managing director of entertainment label Thames, Holloway (below left) has been leading FMUK’s unscripted […]
Discovery Communications-owned indie Betty has hired Optomen Television’s head of development. Damian Pitman will take the same post at the Bear Grylls: Mission Survive producer, where he will work closely with managing director Neil Smith. At Optomen, he helped develop the upcoming primetime series The Miracle for ITV and Employ Me for BBC Two. In […]
Will television’s latest super group be called ‘Banijak’, ‘Zodijay’ and plain old ‘Banijay-Zodiak Group’? Zodiak Media and Banijay Group are set to form a powerful production and distribution group with strong assets in the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy and central and eastern Europe among other territories. Deal confirmation came early Tuesday afternoon following weeks […]
Banijay Group and Zodiak Media are in advanced merger talks. Various sources have linked the two Europe-based production and distribution giants in recent weeks, and TBI understands Banijay is engineering a deal that would see it emerge the majority partner in a merged entity. Both production and distribution groups count Italy’s De Agostini as shareholders […]
ITV Studios-owned factual prodco Shiver has poached Richard Hastings from BBC Entertainment. Hastings (pictured) will become creative director, factual entertainment, formats and daytime at the UK-based Come Dine With Me producer. He joins ITV’s production arm from the entertainment wing of UK pubcaster the BBC, where he was head of factual entertainment development. His new […]
Wacky UK gameshow Wild Things is set to hit the international market at MIPTV. The physical competition show, in which people dressed in giant animal costumes with no eye holes attempt to win challenges in a woodland, makes up part of Zodiak Rights’ Cannes formats slate. The comic show launched on Sky 1 in the […]
Sony-backed UK prodco Electric Ray has brought Endemol entertainment executive Shaun Parry into its fold. Parry will take up the new post of creative director, overseeing Electric Ray’s entertainment programming slate as well as its development unit, which creates formats for the international market. He takes up the post in March and will report to […]
Nigel Pickard is leaving Zodiak Media. Pickard was in charge of kids programming at RDF Media and at Zodiak after it acquired RDF in 2010. He will also step down as chairman of Zodiak-owned kids prodco The Foundation. Zodiak said Pickard will return to programme-making and will “pursue new ventures”. Recent commissions for The Foundation […]
NBCUniversal International Television Production has finalised the shape of the factual development unit that former Fever Media co-founder David Mortimer leads. Jack Burgess, another ex-Fever exec whom TBI revealed had joined NBCU last year, will lead factual entertainment development alongside Ben Riley, who is a former BBC Format Entertainment, MTV and Endemol exec; while heading […]
