Fremantle (company)

This article is about the British TV production company. For other corporate entities, see Fremantle (disambiguation).

Fremantle Limited^[3] (/ˈfriːmæntəl/), formerly FremantleMedia, is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. The company was founded in 1993 when publishing and education company Pearson acquired the former British ITV franchisee Thames Television and rebranded it as Pearson Television. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, which was acquired by predecessor company All American Television in 1994. Pearson Television CLT-UFA from Bertelsmann merged in 2000 to form the RTL Group, with Pearson Television itself renamed that following year as FremantleMedia on 20 August.

Fremantle Limited

Formerly	Pearson Television (1994–2001) FremantleMedia (2001–2018)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Television
Predecessors	All American Communications Reg Grundy Organisation LBS Communications Thames Television Blair Entertainment Goodson-Todman Productions Reeves Entertainment
Founded	1993; 31 years ago (1993)
Headquarters	London , England
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Jennifer Mullin (CEO)
Owner	Pearson (1993–2001) Bertelsmann (2001–present)
Parent	RTL Group
Subsidiaries	See § Production offices and labels
Website	fremantle.com

Fremantle Licensing

Formerly	Fremantle Overseas Radio and Television (1952–1958) Fremantle International (1958–1994, 2018–present for Fremantle's current international division) All American Fremantle International (1994–1998) Pearson Television Licensing (1998–2001)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Television
Founded	1952; 72 years ago (1952)
Founder	Paul Talbot
Headquarters	New York City, New York , U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Owner	The Interpublic Group of Companies (1989–1994) Pearson (1994–2001) Bertelsmann (2001–present)
Parent	RTL Group
Website	fremantle.com
Footnotes / references ^[1]^[2]

Fremantle owns non-scripted formats, including the British talent shows Idols, Got Talent and The X Factor; all of which have been sold globally. Since 1994, Fremantle has distributed American game shows locally in the US and globally.

History

Main article: Thames Television § History

Pearson Television (1994–2001)

On 23 April 1993, Pearson plc bought Thames Television, becoming the first division of the company and gaining the rights to programmes like The Benny Hill Show and The Bill.^[4][5]

Then in 1995 it acquired Australian production company Grundy Television.^[6][7][8] Allied Communications Inc. (ACI), a U.S.-based distributor of made-for-television films, was purchased later that year for $40 million.^[9][10] In 1996, Pearson Television bought the British production company SelecTV plc, and merged into it.^[11]

Pearson Television announced on 1 October 1997 that it would launch a $373 million cash tender offer for publicly traded U.S. television company All American Communications Inc.^[12] On 5 November, Pearson completed its tender offer, and All American was merged into Pearson Television the following year. This acquisition gave Pearson worldwide rights to various game show formats as well as drama series in the U.S. such as Baywatch, while All American Music Group was sold to Zomba Records subsidiary Volcano Entertainment.

Pearson Television acquired Italian drama production company Mastrofilm on 3 November 1998,^[13] and European animation financer and distributor EVA Entertainment on 2 February 1999.^[14] In April 2000, Pearson TV decided to take over Smith & Jones' UK production company Talkback Productions.^[15]

Fremantle International

 

Fremantle International logo used from 1972 to 1991

The first incarnation of Fremantle was founded in 1952 by Paul Talbot as Fremantle Overseas Radio and Television and later renamed as Fremantle International in 1958, named after the city in Western Australia. It was involved in the production of television series, movies, and specials from 1964 to 1994 and owned game show formats from Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, Stewart Television, Barry & Enright Productions, Kline and Friends, Hatos-Hall Productions, and Chuck Barris Productions internationally.

In 1976, Australian executive Richard Becker, of Becker Entertainment was made head of the Australian operation of Fremantle International Productions, and a year later integrated its operations with R.A. Becker's production arm (later Becker Entertainment) to license out its title library.^[16]

By the 1980s, Fremantle had become the largest producer of game shows in Europe.^[17][18] In 1989, The Interpublic Group of Companies bought a 49% minority interest in Fremantle International. On 20 May 1991, Interpublic Group increased its ownership stake in Fremantle International to 80%, with Paul Talbot retaining a 20% holding in the company.

Interpublic Group agreed to sell assets of Fremantle International to All American Communications Inc. for $63 million in cash and stock on 7 July 1994.^[19] All American acquired Fremantle International in August. Paul Talbot continued to own The Fremantle Corporation, the international distributor of All American's Baywatch and other programs until his death in 2005 and the company's assets was later acquired by Canadian-based Kaleidoscope Entertainment in June 2006.^[20] All American Fremantle International managed and distributed Mark Goodson Productions' game show formats worldwide. In 1998, All American Television and All American Fremantle International were renamed Pearson Television North America and Pearson Television Licensing, and operated under those names until being renamed in 2001.

FremantleMedia (2001–2018)

 

FremantleMedia logo from 20 August 2001 to 9 September 2018.

In 2000, German conglomerate Bertelsmann announced that it would form a joint venture between its CLT-UFA group (itself a merger of Luxembourg's CLT and German studio UFA GmbH) with Pearson Television (whose library included former British ITV franchise Thames Television, All American Television—who owned the libraries of U.S. syndicators Lexington Broadcast Services and Blair Entertainment and game show producers Mark Goodson Productions and Fremantle International, and Australia's Reg Grundy Organisation) to create a multinational media group and content business—eventually known as RTL Group—to consolidate their broadcasting and production activities,^[21][22] and provide a European competitor to American-owned media conglomerates.^[23] The content business would be renamed FremantleMedia in 2001,^[22] while Bertelsmann would later increase its stake in RTL Group to achieve majority ownership.^[24][25]

In the mid-2010s, FremantleMedia began to increase its investments into "high-end" scripted dramas to diversify its output. The strategy proved successful for the company, with international dramas having increasingly accounted for more of its overall revenue.^[26][27][28]

In January 2018, FremantleMedia sold its Kids & Family Entertainment division to Boat Rocker Media.^[29] In July 2018, FremantleMedia North America CEO Jennifer Mullin was named the new CEO of the worldwide company, replacing the outgoing Cecile Frot-Coutaz.^[30]

Fremantle (2018–present)

On 10 September 2018, the company changed its public-facing brand to "Fremantle", introducing a new handwritten logo (Fremantle Media remains the company's legal name). Mullin described the logo as a "creative signature" that "[puts] our own unique mark on everything that we do."^[31] On 13 July 2020, Fremantle spun off Storyglass into an independent company within Bertelsmann.^[32] On 9 September, Fremantle merged Boundless and Naked Entertainment to form Naked Television.^[33]

On 10 May 2022, Fremantle acquired a majority stake in Element Pictures, an Irish film studio and television drama production company known for producing films such as The Guard, Frank, Room, The Lobster, The Favourite, and The Nest and television series such as Normal People and Conversations with Friends, both for Hulu, BBC Three, and RTÉ as well as Red Rock for TV3 (co-produced with All3Media-owned Company Pictures), in addition to owning the Light House Cinema in Dublin and Pálás Cinema in Galway, Irish film video on demand service Volta (named after the first cinema in the Republic of Ireland) and a theatrical distribution arm (Element Pictures Distribution).^[34] In November 2022, it was announced Fremantle had acquired a majority stake in the Tel Aviv-based independent production company, Silvio Productions.^[35]

Productions

Main article: List of Fremantle productions

Fremantle owns of a number of non-scripted formats, including the talent shows Idol, Got Talent, and The X Factor (the latter two with Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment), and game shows via its ownership of the libraries of U.S. producer Goodson–Todman Productions, Australian producer Reg Grundy, and others, which includes formats Family Feud, The Price is Right and Sale of the Century among others.

Via the Reg Grundy library, Fremantle Australia owns a number of notable Australian dramas and soap operas, including the long-running Neighbours and Prisoner.^[26]

Since the mid-2010s, Fremantle has increased its focus on scripted series internationally, having produced or distributed programmes such as American Gods, Beecham House, Charité, Deutschland 83, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Rain, The Young Pope and The Mosquito Coast.^[26][27][28]

Production offices and labels

 

Fremantle North America headquarters at the Pointe office building in Burbank, California

Fremantle has production units across its global offices and network of companies.

In the United States, Fremantle's largest production and distribution division, Fremantle North America is based in Burbank, California, and includes a portfolio of companies. Fremantle North America produces and distributes scripted and alternative programs for broadcast and cable networks, syndication and streaming platforms.

In addition, Fremantle North America owns several other smaller production companies; among these are Thom Beers' Original Productions (responsible for creation and production of numerous reality shows such as Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, and Ice Road Truckers) and Amygdala Music, Leslie Beers' production and composition firm that writes themes, incidental, and featured music for Original Productions shows.

Production and/or distribution labels from Fremantle include:

Region/Country	Unit(s)
United Kingdom	72 Films^[36] Dancing Ledge^[37] Dr Pluto Films (25%; joint venture with James Abadi and Sam Pollard)^[38] Euston Films^[39] Castlefield (Manchester and the rest of Northern England)^[40]^[41]^[42]^[43] Full Fat TV (25%)^[44] Label1 (25%)^[45] Man Alive Entertainment (25%)^[46] Naked Television^[47] (formed from merger of Boundless and Naked Entertainment^[33]) Naked West Talkback Thames Undeniable^[48] Wild Blue Media (25%)^[49] Wildstar Films (51%)^[50]
Ireland	Element Pictures^[51]^[52] (also has an office in London) Light House Cinema (Dublin)^[53] Road House Cinema^[53] Pálás Cinema (Galway)^[53] Volta (Irish film VOD service)^[53]
United States	Original Productions Amygdala Music Random House Studio^[54] Random House Films Random House Television Passenger (with Richard Brown) The Immigrant (also in Spain and Latin America; with Bron Media, Camila Jiménez-Villa and Silvana Aguirre;^[55] 25%^[56]) Artists, Writers & Artisans (with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lupa Systems and SISTER)^[57] Eureka Productions (also in Australia) Buzzr (Digital broadcast television network)
Australia	Easy Tiger Eureka Productions^[58] (also in the United States)
Germany	UFA GmbH UFA Fiction UFA Serial Drama UFA Show & Factual UFA Documentary^[59]
France	Kwaï^[60]
Netherlands	Fiction Valley^[61] Blue Circle^[62] No Pictures Please^[63] (Netherlands; 100% ownership since 1 January 2020^[64]) Tebbernekkel^[65]
Belgium	A Team Productions^[66]
Italy	Lux Vide (70%)^[67] Wildside^[68] Vision Distribution (joint venture with Sky Italia, Cattleya, Lucisano Media Group, Palomar and Indiana Production^[69]) Vision Distribution International^[69] The Apartment (Created in December 2019^[70]) Wavy^[71]
Spain	En Cero Coma Producciones^[72]
Denmark	Blu Miso Film^[73] Strong Productions
Finland	Moskito Television^[74] Grillifilms Production House
Norway	Playroom Event^[75]^[76] Monster AS^[77] One Big Happy Family^[78] Strix Television (also in Sweden)
Sweden	Strix Television (also in Norway) Baluba^[79]
Israel	Abot Hameiri (founded by Eitan Abot and Guy Hameiri in 2006, this company became part of Fremantle in 2016)^[68]^[80]^[81] Silvio Productions^[35]
Former/Defunct	Hare and Tortoise (United Kingdom; known as Retort until 2018)^[82] Prism Leisure Corporation (United Kingdom)

References

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External links

• Official website