All3Media

History

All3Media Limited was formed in 2003 after the Chrysalis's television arm was acquired by a consortium led by ex-Granada chief Steve Morrison, former ITV Head of Programming, David Liddiment, and former Operations MD at Granada, Jules Burns & John Pfeil. On 3 June 2004, they announced that they acquired independent factual producer Lion TV which was founded in 1997 to expand the group across the Atlantic.

In June 2005, the company acquired Mersey Television the creator of the soap operas Brookside and Hollyoaks in the company's 10th acquisition after they bid for that company in April 2005. It was renamed as Lime Pictures in 2006.

In February 2007, All3Media had announced that they've expanding their operations into Germany by making an agreement to acquire Cologne-based German independent television production company MME Moviement with All3Media's German division Pertus Zehnte being renamed to All3Media Deutschland. In June 2007, All3Media announced that they've acquired the Birmingham-based independent production company behind 10 Years Longer Maverick Television for an undisclosed sum, expanding All3Media's British television production portfolio with Maverick Television continued operated independently within All3Media along with their name.{{cite web|title= All3 takes over 10 Years Younger indie|url=https://www.c21media.net/news/all3-takes-over-10-years-younger-indie/|website=C21Media|date=June 21, 2007|access-date=September 22, 2024}} Two months later in August of that same year, All3Media had announced that they've expanded their television production operations by acquiring Andrew O'Conner's magic & comedy production company Objective Productions, bringing All3Media companies to 12 and expanded its scripted operations into the comedy genre as Objective Productions became a subsidiary under the former while its founders Michael Vine and Andrew O’Connor continued leading the acquired comedy production studio.

In June 2008, All3Media had announced that they've acquired American-based unscripted television production company Zoo Productions making the company's first American acquisition outside the United Kingdom and expanding their operations into the United States with Zoo Productions became All3Media first American production subsidiary as the group would start producing American versions of its programming while its founders Barry Poznick and John Stevens had continued leading Zoo Productions under All3Media as its international arm All3Media International would distribute Zoo Productions's future programming worldwide.

In August 2010, All3Media announced that it had acquired independent unscripted television production company Optomen Television along with its American television production division Optomen Productions US and its joint venture production subsidiary with TV chef Gordon Ramsay, One Potato Two Potato for £40m expanding All3Media's television production operations and their expansion into the cooking portfolio.{{cite web|title= All3 savours $60m Optomen deal|url=https://www.c21media.net/news/all3-savours-60m-optomen-deal/|website=C21Media|first=Adam|last=Benzine|date=August 13, 2010|access-date=September 22, 2024}} In 2012, All3Media announced that they had launched US production arm in Los Angeles named All3Media America. In 2013, it was named the top UK independent producer, with a turnover of £473m. On 8 May 2014, it was announced that Discovery, Inc. and Liberty Global would acquire All3Media, in a joint venture valued at US$930 million. In March 2015, All3Media announced that they had made a deal to acquire Sam Mendes' film, TV & theatre production company Neal Street Productions.

In January 2016, All3Media announced that they had acquired Charlie Pattinson's British drama production company New Pictures to expand their drama development output and their British television production operations with co-founder and co-CEO of New Pictures and former co-founder of Company Pictures Charlie Patterson continuing to run the company within All3Media. On 26 April 2016, British chef and producer Gordon Ramsay formed a partnership with the All3Media group and they launched a joint venture called Studio Ramsay. The company will be fully owned by Ramsay but had support from the All3Media company to develop and produce unscripted shows with All3Media handling distribution rights to the shows. However five years later on 4 August 2021, Gordon Ramsay announced a major overall deal with Fox Entertainment by launching a new production company called Studio Ramsay Global with All3Media selling their partnership of Ramsay's then-current company Studio Ramsay to Fox Entertainment.

In February 2017, All3Media announced that they had acquired British television production company Two Brothers Pictures who previously produced two shows with All3Media's subsidiary New Pictures which they brought back in 2016 as All3Media expanded their drama production portfolio with the company's founders Harry and Jack Williams continuing to lead the acquired company with All3Media International the international division of All3Media taking distribution rights to the shows that Two Brothers produced.{{cite web|title= All3Media adopts Two Brothers|url=https://www.c21media.net/news/all3media-acquires-two-brothers/|website=C21Media|first=Andrew|last=Dickens|date=February 10, 2017|access-date=September 22, 2024}} Also on 3 May of that same year, All3Media had acquired two production companies Raw and Betty TV from its former owner Discovery Communications (which would later become Discovery, Inc. in 2018 and later Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022).

On 11 January 2018, the company's American arm launched production company Woodland Park Productions which to produce unscripted content and is under All3Media's American division. In December 2018, All3Media announced that they've entered the sports production genre by acquiring British international sports production company Aurora Media Worldwide. In May 2019, All3Media had announced that they've launched scripted production label named West Road Pictures with Blood producer Jonathan Fisher leading the new production label as their managing director.

On 15 October 2019, the company launched a new factual production company Angelica Films with former BBC and Field Day executive Sally Angel. But on 31 October 2022, Angelica Films had left All3Media becoming an independent company On 24 September 2020, BBC Studios announced their intention to sell their stake in their German joint venture with All3Media, Tower Productions, and launch their own German division, BBC Studios Germany Productions. The sale took effect at the end of 2020. In December 2020, All3Media announced that they had acquired leading natural history film and television production company Silverback Films, the producer of the Netflix series Our Planet.

On 17 May 2021, it was announced that Discovery, which co-owned All3Media, would be acquiring AT&T subsidiary WarnerMedia and merging with it to form Warner Bros. Discovery. On 11 June 2021, All3Media had acquired NENT Studios UK from Nordic Entertainment Group now known as Viaplay Group. They later merged its operations with All3Media's international division. The Warner Bros. Discovery merger was completed by 8 April 2022. In August 2022, All3Media announced that they've merged two of their subsidiaries which were Birmingham-based production company Maverick Television and the Glasgow-based division of Objective Media Group named Objective Media Group Scotland to form a factual and factual entertainment production company within Objective Media Group named 141 Productions.

On 31 May 2023, co-owner Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was selling its stake to ITV plc. While the deal didn't reach an agreement in July 2023 with Mediawan, Banijay, and Sony remaining as potential buyers, ITV later told investors that they were "no longer actively exploring a deal but still continuing to monitor the situation". Banijay was reported as of August. After the auction for All3Media began in September 2023, three frontrunners emerged in the final stages of auction the next month: Goldman Sachs, Peter Chernin's The North Road Company and Banijay, with Sony and Fremantle dropping out of contention. On 12 December 2023, RedBird IMI was reported to be the frontrunner, with the company in advanced talks with Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global to acquire the company for around £1 billion ($1.26 billion) in a deal that could be completed before the end of the year. It was also reported that Banijay had dropped out of contention the previous week, with the North Road Company and Goldman Sachs also exiting.

On February 16, 2024, RedBird IMI confirmed that they would be acquiring All3Media from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global for £1.15 billion, with the deal expected to close sometime in the second or third quarter of the year, pending regulatory approval. On May 16, 2024, the sale was announced to have been completed, making it the single largest acquisition made by RedBird. RedBird IMI's CEO Jeff Zucker was made chairman of All3Media, while Jane Turton and Sara Geater remain CEO and COO of the company respectively.

On 23 November 2024, Sky News reported that CVC Capital Partners, TF1, RedBird Capital Partners, All3Media, Mediawan, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had been linked to a potential takeover bid for ITV plc and a possible break-up of core assets including ITV Studios and ITVX.

On 30 January 2025, Reuters reported that RedBird IMI were in early-stage talks with ITV plc to merge the All3Media and ITV Studios production businesses.

In September 2025, All3Media established its unscripted production development subsidiary entitled Seamonster TV, the new unscripted production development label would produce unscripted programming such as game shows and factual entertainment series with Mirella Breda CCO at All3Media's fellow production subsidiary Lime Pictures became managing director of All3Media's new unscripted development label Seamonster TV and Sam Pollard became Seamonster TV's director of development.

Ten days later on the 11th of that month ten years after All3Media had brought 7 Stories back on 16 September 2015, All3Media had shuttered its scripted production subsidiary 7 Stories with the latter's production library being retained by All3Media whilst 7 Stories' founders Anand Tucker and Sharon Maguire, alongside creative director Colleen Woodcock departured the defunct All3Media production subsidiary.

Companies

As on 17 January 2023, here is a list of companies owned by All3Media:

• All3Media America
• All3Media Belgium
• All3Media Deutschland :*Tower Productions :*Filmpool Entertainment :*Filmpool Fiction :*Magic Connection :*South&Browse :*The Fiction Syndicate
• All3Media International
• Aurora Media Worldwide
• Bentley Productions Ltd., producer of ITV's Midsomer Murders and Ultimate Force
• Bright Spot Content
• Build Your Own Films
• Bullion Productions
• Company Pictures
• IDTV, Netherlands
• Lime Pictures :*Wise Owl Films
• Lion Television :*Lion Television Scotland :*Lion Television America :*Lion Television International
• Little Dot Studios :*YouTube Channels ::*Absolute History ::*Real Royalty ::*Odyssey (ancient history) ::*Chronicle (medieval history) ::*Parable (religious history) ::War Stories :: () ::*Real Crime ::*Real Responders ::*The World History Channel Spark (YouTube Channel) ::*Spark (science, tech, and engineering) ::*Real Wild ::*Real Families ::*Parenthood ::*Shiver (paranormal) ::*Black/Current ::*Animal Adventures ::*True Crime Stories ::*Wonder ::*Absolute Crime ::*Absolute Jokes (comedy) :*Wing (content agency) :*History Hit (streaming service created by Dan Snow)
• Maverick Television
• Neal Street Productions
• New Pictures :*Witchery Pictures (joint venture with Siobhan Finnigan and Judith King){{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/01/all3media-backs-drama-label-witchery-pictures-preps-musical-project-1202272754/|title=All3Media Backs Drama Label Witchery Pictures, Preps Musical Rom-Com :*Observatory Pictures (joint venture with George Kay)
• North One Television
• Objective Media Group (OMG) :*Objective Entertainment :*Coming Up Roses :*Objective Fiction (scripted comedies and comedy-dramas) ::*Tannadice Pictures (joint venture with Neil Forsyth) :*OMG America, Los Angeles, California :*OMG North/Purple Productions, Manchester, England :*OMG Scotland, in Glasgow
• One Traveler
• Optomen :*Optomen Entertainment, Los Angeles, California
• Raw TV
• Seven Stories
• Silverback Films
• South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand :*Kura Productions (joint venture with Quinton Hita) :*Satellite Media (mixed-media production company)
• Story Films
• Studio Lambert, United States/United Kingdom
• Two Brothers Pictures
• West Road Pictures
• 3 Rock

Important rights held

• Call the Midwife
• The Circle
• The Cube
• Fleabag
• The Gadget Show
• Gogglebox
• Great British Menu
• The Traitors
• Hollyoaks
• Homes Under the Hammer
• Lingo
• Midsomer Murders
• The Max Headroom character - held by All3Media .
• Operation Ouch!
• Peep Show
• Shameless (British TV series)
• Shortland Street
• Skins (British TV series)
• Undercover Boss

References

References

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