Banijay Entertainment buys Nordisk Film TV / Solar Television
French production powerhouse Banijay Entertainment is heading into winter with a Nordic edge having just bought up Scandinavian small screen shingle Nordisk Film’s TV arm, Banijay said Monday.
Nordisk Film TV, owned by multinational media group Egmont, represents an annual revenue of around €50 million ($73.5 million) and produces more than 1,500 hours of television per year.
The deal will also include Nordisk’s international distribution arm Nordisk Film TV World that sells formats to 57 countries across the globe.
Popular Nordisk Film TV titles include “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” “Wipeout” and “My Big Fat Parents.”
Nordisk execs Jacob Houlind and Peter Hansen will continue to manage Nordisk Film TV under the Banijay banner. The deal also includes the company’s partly owned subsidiaries Danish Respirator Media & Development and Finnish Solar Television.
Banijay launched new stateside company Angel City Factory with veteran reality producers Chris Cowan and Jean-Michel Michenaud in July and continue to snap up companies across the globe, including recently acquiring a majority stake in U.K. indie Zig Zag Productions.
Banijay has quickly become a major force on the international TV circuit after being founded in Jan. 2008 and now has homes in France, Spain, the US, Germany, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
