| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television production Distribution Licensing Media |
| Founded | February 6, 1974 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Tony Cohen (Chairman & Chief Executive Officer) Wolf Bauer (CEO, UFA Film and TV Production) Gary Carter (Chief Operating Officer) Cecile Frot-Coutaz (CEO), FremantleMedia North America [USA] |
| Products | Television |
| Owner(s) | RTL Group , Bertelsmann |
| Website | www.FremantleMedia.com |
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London.
The company acquired various British and Australian production companies including Grundy Television, Crackerjack Productions (now merged to become FremantleMedia Australia), Thames Television and Talkback Productions (the last two later merged as Talkback Thames). Early on it merged with Germany's largest television production company, UFA.
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The company holds the rights to the Goodson/Todman game show library which includes such game shows as What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, Password, Now You See It, Match Game, I've Got a Secret and Family Feud, as well as non-Goodson shows such as Press Your Luck, Let's Make a Deal and the Reg Grundy library, which includes Time Machine, Sale of the Century, Scrabble, Scattergories, Small Talk and Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak. Fremantle also produced Temptation and an interactive gameshow Quizmania for ITV Play.
In addition, they also own (along with Columbia Pictures) the rights to most of the post 1948 Bob Hope film catalog that includes The Seven Little Foys, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Son of Paleface. They were also the distributors of the television series Baywatch, and hold the rights to the Grundy Television Library such series like Wheel Of Fortune (not the U.S. version or any version produced since Columbia's acquisition of Merv Griffin Enterprises, since Sony now holds the rights to the show domestically and worldwide) and Neighbours, including game shows from its U.S. counterpart, Reg Grundy Productions.
In-house productions include Pop Idol and its related spin-offs (including the FOX-aired American Idol), and three carryover productions from Mark Goodson Productions: the current versions of The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and the 2002 revival of Beat the Clock (for Pax TV). Currently, they hold rights (under license from Fuji Television) to the game Brain Wall, more commonly known as Hole in the Wall in over 20 countries.
FremantleMedia has also licensed rights to international formats including The Apprentice (with creator Mark Burnett for BBC One), The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (on Oxygen in the United States), the Simon Cowell-produced series The X Factor (in the UK), and America's Got Talent for NBC, the long running Australian serials Neighbours and Prisoner , Distraction (on Comedy Central), and Gameshow Marathon (on CBS). In other countries they own the franchise rights to Betty La Fea in Germany (Verliebt In Berlin), Spain (Yo Soy Bea), the Netherlands (Lotte), Sara in Belgium and Maria I Asximi in Greece.
FremantleMedia's library also includes the 2001 CBS telefilm The Christmas Shoes (inspired by the NewSong #1 hit), and its 2005 sequel, The Christmas Blessing. (The song is the property of Bertelsmann AG, which is the majority owner in RTL group.)
The company also owns the back catalog of the American TV production company Reeves Entertainment, which was acquired by Thames in 1990. Additionally, FremantleMedia brought the rights to all former programming of the now defunct UK broadcasting strand Thames Television from Pearson International in 2002, meaning they also hold rights to a variety of shows from the Thames archives including popular children's shows from the 1970s and 1980s such as the long running The Sooty Show and Rainbow.
FremantleMedia currently leases the rights to Match Game, all versions of Family Feud except for the Louie Anderson run, and the various incarnations of Password to GSN. FremantleMedia previously leased the entire Goodson-Todman library (with The Price is Right and the 1994 season of Feud on separate contracts) and Press Your Luck to GSN until March 31, 2009.
FremantleMedia bought a controlling share of Canadian video game development company Ludia in October 2010.[1]
FremantleMedia has into two major divisions: Creative Networks, which comprises and co-ordinates local production operations, and FremantleMedia Enterprises, which handles distribution and licensing.
Creative Networks comprises three departments: Worldwide Entertainment, Worldwide Drama and FMX. This network provides local production teams access to ideas, expertise and trends from around the world.
Worldwide Entertainment supports existing shows including Idols, The X Factor, and The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and new additions such as Thank God You're Here, America's Got Talent, Hole in the Wall and PokerFace.
Worldwide Drama supports serial drama production in 12 territories, including long-running dramas The Bill (ITV1, UK), Neighbours (Network Ten, Australia), Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times - RTL Television, Germany), Salatut elämät (Secret Lives - MTV3, Finland), Un Posto al Sole (A Place in the Sun - Rai Uno, Italy) and Barátok Közt (Between Friends - RTL Klub, Hungary).
Creative Networks' latest addition is FMX, a new division intended to reach new audiences by creating non-linear new media experiences. Its productions include Freak, PrintFriends, UrFantastic and Project V.
FremantleMedia Enterprises is the commercial arm of the company responsible for exploiting and developing FremantleMedia's properties off-screen in areas such as merchandising, the Internet, interactive television and wireless. It also focuses on more traditional ancillary rights businesses such as licensing, home entertainment and music publishing. It is the parent arm of the syndicated online short-form comedy video channel, Atomic Wedgie.
FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) is FremantleMedia’s U.S. production & distribution division. Based in Burbank, California, FMNA produces outstanding, entertaining and innovative programmes for broadcast and cable networks, syndication, and digital (online & mobile) platforms.
In addition, FremantleMedia 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.
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