Warner Bros. Completes Shed Media Acquisition

BURBANK/LONDON: Warner Bros. Television Group has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Shed Media, which includes Shed Productions, Ricochet, Twenty Twenty, Wall to Wall, Shed Scotland and Shed US.

Shed Media will remain an independent production company, while its distribution operation, Outright Distribution, is folded into the Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) unit. Outright’s employees will join WBITVP’s in continuing to sell the format rights for programming from Warner Bros. Television, Warner Horizon Television, Telepictures Productions and Shed Media to international broadcasters worldwide. Shed Media is responsible for some 2,000 hours of programming, including Supernanny, Footballers’ Wives and Who Do You Think You Are?. WBITVP over the last 12 months has been ramping up the number of formats it has been licensing, such as The Bachelor.

Bruce Rosenblum, the president of Warner Bros. Television Group, said, “This acquisition marks an important part of our strategic growth initiative for the television group. We already have a leading position and scale in the United States, and this marks the start of the establishment of Warner Bros. as producer of quality entertainment of scale in other important countries.”

Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, the president of Warner Bros. International Television, added, "Today marks a significant first step in the strategy we announced a year ago. The acquisition of a majority stake in one of the top multi-genre production companies in the UK will establish a foundation for future expansion into other countries. Incorporating the shows, formats and talented executives of Outright into our international distribution operation will expand the depth and breath of the programming that we are able to offer our broadcasting partners around the world."

Ronald Goes, the executive VP of Warner Bros. International Television Production, commented, "Our objective is to align with the best possible talent in each major country. Shed has an impressive creative and commercial track record and a strong management team. Together, I am certain that we will enable Shed to do even more of what they do best—produce market-leading programming that become franchises and can be exported to create local versions around the world."

Josh Berger, the president and managing director for Warner Bros. UK, Ireland and Spain, said, “Joining this outstanding company with ours helps further our interests in the U.K., adding TV to our already strong U.K. production presence across theatrical production and video game development."

Nick Southgate, the CEO of Shed Media added, “This tremendously exciting deal represents a watershed moment for Shed. It opens up a myriad of opportunities for our business, not least of which is access to Warner Bros.’ unparalleled worldwide distribution network. Shed and Warner Bros. both believe in the creative process and quality of execution. With our U.K. production and international format licensing expertise, and Warner Bros.’ extraordinary global distribution capabilities, we are creating a powerful combination that we hope will be a great benefit to the U.K. television sector and to our international broadcast partners worldwide.”