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Super-indie merger: Shine, Endemol, Core Media

A proposed merger may create the biggest indie production group in the world with MasterChef, Biggest Loser, Big Brother & Idol.

2014-05-16_1059.jpg21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management have announced they are in talks to merge their respective production companies: FOX-owned Shine Group and Apollo-controlled Endemol and CORE Media Group.

The preliminary agreement reached for a joint venture would create what is arguably the biggest independent production company in the world, with such titles as MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol under one roof.

Apollo, which also has interests in Nine in Australia, owns Endemol (formerly Southern Star in Australia) and CORE Media Group formerly Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment. Rupert Murdoch’s FOX group owns Shine, established by his daughter Elisabeth Murdoch.

“The parties have entered into a preliminary agreement, subject to a number of conditions, which calls for 21st Century Fox and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo to jointly own and manage the new joint venture. There can be no assurance that the proposed transaction will be completed,” a statement said.

If successful, the consolidation would be the latest in a string of high-profile mergers reshaping the unscripted television production landscape.

Last week, Discovery Communications and Liberty Global teamed up to acquire London-based producer All3Media in a US$930 million deal.

Source: Real Screen

3 Responses

  1. Can’t help but feel all these mergers of production companies isn’t a good thing – defeats the point somewhat of independent producers when the production houses become bigger than the channels they’re selling content too.

  2. Why has this article singled out non scripted when the two companies are certainly probably the two biggest scripted producers outside the States (Kudos, Tiger Aspect, Southern Star etc etc)?

    1. Yes they all make drama, but the Reality franchises are global, Drama is largely territorial. My article sources Real Screen but I concur with the way they are viewing its significance.

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