MarVista in Australian Partnership

October 5, 2009 World Screen

CANNES: MarVista Entertainment has taken on the representation rights to a range of properties from Australian-based reality and entertainment producer ActiveTV, which in turn has secured options on several formats distributed by MarVista.

The strategic alliance grants MarVista the exclusive distribution rights to ActiveTV’s family entertainment properties outside of Australia and New Zealand. The company’s slate includes Short+Sweet for Foxtel’s Movie Extra, a new kids’ reality series and formats such as Reel Race, Opposites Attract and Ultimate Escape. ActiveTV’s sister company is activeTV Asia, a joint venture with Bertram van Munster that produces The Amazing Race Asia (which today received an International Emmy nomination) and a version of the show for Reshet in Israel.

As part of the alliance, ActiveTV scores Australian and New Zealand options on formats repped by MarVista. Active will support the sale and marketing of MarVista’s series, formats and family entertainment/variety content, excluding movies, in Australia and New Zealand. Plus, the two companies will seek out opportunities to collaborate on titles that can be represented by Active in Australia and New Zealand, MarVista in the U.S. and SNAP TV—Ariel Tobi’s venture that recently inked a pact with MarVista—in Latin America.

Fernando Szew, the founding partner and CEO of MarVista, noted: “This new partnership with a company of this stature coupled with our recent agreement with SNAP TV in Latin America further positions MarVista Entertainment as an aggressive leader in the global business of content production and distribution."

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Michael McKay, the president of ActiveTV, added: “This partnership has grown from the financing of our first MarVista format in Australia, which is soon to be announced, We will champion MarVista’s strong family portfolio down under and on the flipside they are well positioned to take our entertainment properties to the international market.”