Zodiak Media
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
 Logo used from 2012 to 2016 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Industry | TV production |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 1981 |
| Defunct | 2016 |
| Fate | Acquired by, merged with, and folded into Banijay; some assets retain the Zodiak name |
| Successor | Banijay |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Divisions | Zodiak Active Zodiak Americas Zodiak Belgium Zodiak France Zodiak Kids Zodiak MEAA Zodiak Nederland Zodiak Nordic Zodiak UK Zodiak Russia |
| Subsidiaries | Adventure Line Productions Bwark Productions The Comedy Unit GTV Productions IWC Media Jarowskij KM Productions Magnolia Mastiff RDF Television Red House Sol Productions TeleAlliance Touchpaper Television Yellow Bird |
Zodiak Media was a global independent television group with up to 45 companies covering fiction, entertainment, and animation, spread across 15 countries, including France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Spain, the Nordic countries, and Russia.
The group merged in February 2016 with Banijay Group, which then became the world's leading independent producer of content for television and multimedia platforms.[1]
Zodiak Rights, the international distribution arm of Zodiak Media, now a Banijay Group company, is one of the leading distributors on the international market. Its catalogue has over 20,000 hours of programming.[2]
History[edit]
The Zodiak Media group was formed by the successive acquisition of television production companies under the impetus of the Italian De Agostini: Magnolia and Marathon Media in 2007 (Italy, Spain and France), Zodiak TV in 2008 (Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia),[3] RDF Media in 2010 (United Kingdom and United States)[4]
The company's first interrogation began when MTV Produktion AB was founded in the 1981 as a technical facility in Sweden, but by the late 1980s they decided to move into television programming.
In Italy, Magnolia SPA was founded in 2000 by Giorgio Gori as an independent reality television production company so it could adapt entertainment formats to Italian networks.
On April 27, 2003 MTV Produktion AB announced that they acquired Swedish-based production outift Mastiff Media AB from Bonnier Group marking their first acquisition and the two merged to become the Scandinavian production group MTV Mastiff Produktion AB with MTV Produktion AB and Mastiff Media AB retaining their brands along with the former launching a new international division named MTV Mastiff International.
On August 19 2004, after nearly a year after MTV and Mastiff merged to form MTV Mastiff AB, the holding company announced that they brought Finnish production company Jarowskij and merged the company with MTV Mastiff.[5] By November 2004, after the merger with Jarowskij in that same year MTV Mastiff Produktion AB announced that they had changed their name to Zodiak Television AB with their international division also being renamed to Zodiak Television World along with their division MTV Mastiff being retained as a brand.
On May 3 2005, Zodiak Television AB expanded its operations in Finland by announcing that they had acquired Finnish production company Broadcasters Group, marking their second acquisition in Finland with Broadcasters Group's management remained in the acquired company.[6]
In January 2006, Zodiak Television announced that they brought out a 35% stake in Polish production company Zebra Media, marking Zodiak's first entry into the Polish production outfit.[7]
In February 2006, Zodiak announced that their expanding its operations into Eastern Europe by acquiring a 34% stake in Russian production company TeleAlliance, marking the first time the Copenhagen-based entertainment group entered the Russian television market.[8]
In October 2006, Zodiak Television AB entered the British television industry for the first time when they announced that they brought British producer Diverse Productions, marking Zodiak's first entry to the UK market.[9]
In February 2007, Zodiak Television AB announced that they brought Swedish-based TV and film production company Yellow Bird with Jarowskij's drama production output being folded into the acquired company thrust expanding Zodiak's Swedish operations.[10]
In August 2007, Zodiak Television World announced that they brought British television production company Bullseye TV with the latter's distribution arm folded into Zodiak's international division with Zodiak moving its international business from its home of Copenhagen to London.[11]
On October 8 2007, Zodiak Television announced that they had acquired 35% stake in Indian independent production company Sol, marking Zodiak Television's expansion outside of Europe and the first time Zodiak entered the Indian television industry.[12] On March 30 2010, Zodiak announced that they increased their stake in Indian-based production company by acquiring 51% stake in the company.[13]
In November 2007, Zodiak Television AB announced that they brought Damon Pattison's new production company Lucky Day Productions and placed it under their UK operations.[14]
On July 28 2011, Zodiak Media announced that they acquired British-based independent producer Bwark.[15]
In July 2012, Zodiak Media announced that their consolidating their production operations in the United States by launching their new division named Zodiak Americas.[16]
Zodiak Kids, a subsidiary specializing in family and youth programs, was created in 2014.
In July 2015, Banijay Group and Zodiak Media announce their merger.[17] The merger is effective on February 23, 2016.[18] Banijay Group then becomes one of the world's leading content producers.[19]
Divisions[edit]
Zodiak Nederland[edit]
Zodiak Nederland was a Dutch television production company that was founded in 1992 and became a division of Zodiak Media in 2008.
Zodiak Los Angeles[edit]
Zodiak Los Angeles was founded in 2006 by the British entertainment company and parent company of RDF Television called the RDF Media Group straight under the name RDF USA. After the merger between the British company RDF Media Group and the French entertainment company Zodiak Entertainment along with the rebranding the latter to Zodiak Media Group, Zodiak announced that they merged Zodiak Entertainment US with RDF USA and renamed it as Zodiak USA.[20]
Key Programs[edit]
Among the programs produced by Zodiak Media: Being Human, the supernatural series produced for the BBC and SyFy US; Wallander; the Millennium Trilogy; the French series Sous le soleil, and Versailles, in co-production with Capa and Incendo for Canal+.
Zodiak Media is also the originator of the formats Koh-Lanta, Fort Boyard (Adventure Line Productions), The Secret Millionaire, The Best Singers (Swedish), and Location, Location, Location.
Zodiak Kids' catalogue includes programs such as Waybuloo, Totally Spies!, Rekkit Rabbit, Mister Maker, and Gormiti.
Related articles[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Home". Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ^ Zodiak Rights (24 November 2016). "Zodiak Rights". Zodiak Rights. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ^ "Content Production / Distribution". Gruppo de Agostini. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
- ^ Sweney, Mark "RDF Media sold to Zodiak Entertainment", The Guardian, Wednesday 2 June 2010. Retrieved on 27 November 2012.
- ^ "MTV buys Jarowskij". Variety. August 19, 2004. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ Edmunds, Marlene (May 3, 2005). "Group joins Zodiak production team". Variety. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak chases Zebra". Variety. Janaury 6, 2006. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Schreiber, Dominic (February 5, 2006). "Zodiak buys into Russia". Variety. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak buys U.K.'s Diverse". Variety. October 19, 2006. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak captures Yellow Bird". C21Media. February 26, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak targets Bullseye". C21Media. 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak takes a stake in Indian production company SOL". GlobalNewsWire. October 8, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak increases stake in India's Sol". The Hollywood Reporter. March 30, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ Welsh, James (November 27, 2007). "Zodiak invests in Lucky Day". DigitalSpy. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak nabs Bwark". Variety. July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ "Zodiak Targets Expansion With Launch Of Zodiak Americas". Deadline Hollywood. July 11, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
- ^ "Stéphane Courbit: «Banijay devient un acteur majeur de la production mondiale»". LEFIGARO (in French). 2016-02-25. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
- ^ "Zodiak and Banijay finalize merger". Retrieved 2019-08-23.
- ^ "Banijay Group et Zodiak Media fusionnent pour former un géant mondial de la production". ozap.com (in French). 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (September 22, 2010). "RDF USA To Become Zodiak USA". Deadline Hollywood.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help); Text "https://deadline.com/2010/09/rdf-usa-to-become-zodiac-usa-69028/" ignored (help)