Fremantle Limited (formerly FremantleMedia), is a British international television content and production/distribution subsidiary of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, founded in 2001, and evolved as Europe's largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London and Miami.
The company originated in a merger of Luxembourgish-German joint venture CLT-UFA, which consisted of Germany's largest television production company and held a variety of European TV and radio broadcasters on the Luxembourgish side, with their British rival Pearson TV, the television branch sold off by Pearson PLC. The merger led to the replacement of CLT-UFA with the RTL Group in July 2000, while the structures of Pearson were transfered into the new FremantleMedia a year later. In the years before as well as after the merger, the company had acquired various British, Australian, and American production companies including Talkback, Thames Television (the last two later merged as Talkback Thames), Grundy Television, Crackerjack Productions (now merged to become Fremantle Australia), the Carruthers Company (Press Your Luck, Second Chance), and Goodson-Todman Productions (later Mark Goodson Productions, now folded into Fremantle USA).
Production and rights holdings[]
FremantleMedia logo, 2001-2018
The company holds the rights to shows such as Let's Make a Deal, Family Feud and Press Your Luck. Fremantle also produced Temptation and an interactive gameshow Quizmania for ITV Play.
They own (along with Sony Pictures Entertainment) the rights to most of the post-1948 Bob Hope film catalogue that includes The Seven Little Foys, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Son of Paleface. They were also the distributors of the television series Baywatch.
In-house productions include Pop Idol and its related spin-offs (including 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.
They have 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 also holds international distribution rights to the Three's Company franchise, which all shows are based off Thames' Man About the House and its spin-offs.
The company also owns the back catalogue of the American TV production company Reeves Entertainment, which was acquired by Thames in 1990. Additionally, FremantleMedia bought 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 bought a controlling share of the Canadian video game development company Ludia in October 2010.
On 19 November 2012, FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) announced a major new distribution agreement with WWE for the exclusive home entertainment rights to WWE's catalogue of programming across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The deal became effective in January 2013 and have FME manage the DVD, Blu-ray, and digital rights for all new and existing WWE content, making it the first time that fans of WWE's popular programming can access it digitally across EMEA.
On 1 February 2013, FremantleMedia announced they will dismantle its FremantleMedia Enterprises division into two stand-alone global divisions; one for kids & family entertainment and distribution and the other for digital and branded entertainment. In April 2013, FremantleMedia announced a partnership with digital network Blip to develop a new pet-related entertainment destination on Blip powered by FremantleMedia's digital programming site, The Pet Collective. The Pet Collective was Launched online in April 2012, and is a digital producer of animal-friendly content that celebrates the connection between animals and their human companions.
On 30 January 2014, FremantleMedia was in negotiations to acquire rival All3Media. On 26 March 2014, FremantleMedia acquired a 75% stake in 495 Productions, with an option to acquire the remaining 25% in the near future.
On 11 July 2016, It was reported that RTL Group was among a number of various suitors eyeing an acquisition of UK broadcasting company Telewest Group. Under RTL's plans, FremantleMedia would merge with Telewest's production/distribution arm Telewest Studios into a single entity known internally as "Fremantle Telewest". However, RTL withdrew from the auction on 18 September 2018, due to concerns over the vertical integration that the potential acquisition had proposed.
On 13 October 2017, FremantleMedia announced that they have acquired the worldwide format rights to the classic game show Supermarket Sweep and that a revival of the show was in the works.
In January 2018, FremantleMedia sold its children's production studio and library to Canadian studio Boat Rocker Media.
In September 2018, Jennifer Mullin, formerly of the company's North American unit, became the company's new CEO. Later that month, the company introduced a new logo identifying it as simply Fremantle.
Company structure[]
Fremantle International is the global distribution division which is responsible for global sales across Linear Television, Digital and Home Entertainment platforms of finished content, format sales in non-production territories as well as acquiring and developing new programmes for the international market.
Fremantle's US production & distribution division is Fremantle USA (FMUSA). Based in Burbank, California, Fremantle USA and its portfolio of companies, including Original Productions and 495 Productions, is a content studio which produced & distributes scripted and alternative programs 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. 495 Productions has specialised in developing programs.
Reorganisation of UK brands[]
In November 2011, it was announced that FremantleMedia were to reorganise the British operations from 1 January 2012. Talkback Thames brand would be split into four different labels within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm:
- Boundless for factual programming
- Retort (now Hare and Tortoise) for scripted comedy
- Talkback for comedy
- Thames for mainstream entertainment
See also[]
External links[]
| [Edit] RTL Group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ---Parent company: Bertelsmann (75.1%) | ||||
| Television and Radio | ||||
| Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland Germany, Austria and Switzerland |
TV: RTL Television | VOX | RTL II* | Nitro | RTLplus | Super RTL* | Toggo Plus | n-tv | RTL Crime | RTL Living | RTL Passion | GEO Television | |||
| RTL Nederland Netherlands |
TV: RTL 4 | RTL 5 | RTL 7 | RTL 8 | RTL Crime | RTL Lounge | RTL Telekids | RTL Z | |||
| France | TV: RTL9* | M6 Group (48.6%) (M6 | W9 | 6ter | Paris Première | Téva | Série Club* | TF6* | M6 Boutique & Co | M6 Music | M6 Music Black | M6 Music Club | Best of Shopping | Girondins TV) Radio: RTL | RTL 2 | Fun Radio | RTL L'Equipe | |||
| RTL Belgium | TV: RTL-TVI | Club RTL | Plug RTL Radio: Bel RTL | Radio Contact | Mint | RTL 2 | Fun Radio | RTL L'Equipe | |||
| Production and Distribution (Fremantle) |
UK labels (Talkback | Thames | Boundless | Hare & Tortoise) | Fremantle USA (RadicalMedia (majority stake) | Original Productions | 495 Productions (75%) | Random House Studio | Buzzr) | Fremantle Australia | |||
| *Denotes Joint venture---- | ||||