The Warner Bros owned Shed Media Group is linking up with John de Mol’s Talpa Media.
The two companies have inked a joint venture agreement which will see Shed Media become the exclusive UK home for all Talpa formats – including the red hot reality format Utopia, which is already racking up international deals. The joint venture will be known as Talpa UK and comes after the two companies have worked together over the past two years to produce The Voice for BBC One.
“We’re thrilled to be building upon our relationship with Talpa – the company responsible for some of the most groundbreaking formats on TV”, said Claire Hungate, Chief Operating Officer of Shed Media Group. “The diversity of Talpa’s offering fits perfectly with the diversity we have across our seven UK production companies, which span every genre from entertainment, to game show, to scripted series.”
While Maarten Meijs, Managing Director of Talpa International, added: “Shed Media is definitely our preferred partner in the UK. For the past few years, we’ve been working exceptionally well with Shed Media’s Wall to Wall on the production of The Voice. I’m looking forward to expanding our cooperation with more Talpa formats and more Shed Group producers.”
The deal comes at a time when Warner Bros, like other US studios, are expanding their international business. Warner Bros. International Television Production acquired Shed Media back in 2010 and since then has acquired other companies, including Blazhoffski in the Netherlands in 2011. Just last week, Warner Bros entered into an agreement to acquire the Eyeworks Group’s businesses outside of the United States; spanning some 15 countries across Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand.
