Banijay Acquires Stake in Stephen David Entertainment

PARIS: Banijay Group has picked up a controlling share of the U.S.-based production company Stephen David Entertainment (SDE), producer of such programming as The World Wars and The Men Who Built America.

The move is intended to support Banijay's catalogue with a slate of ready-made original series and to expand into producing new original series and larger-scale scripted entertainment in the U.S. Stephen David, founder and president of SDE, will report to David Goldberg, Banijay Group's president and Banijay Studios North America's CEO.

Marco Bassetti, Banijay Group CEO, commented, “This new deal underlines our policy to expand our footprint in the English-speaking market, bringing added value to our business as a whole. I have huge respect for Stephen and very much admire the high quality and entertaining programs he produces. With SDE on board, our presence in the U.S. market becomes even stronger and more diverse.” 
 
Goldberg added, “This move complements our existing business and strengthens Banijay’s ability to break new creative ground in North America. We believe there is a great deal of opportunity for growth of the non-scripted and scripted documentary genres. We will also look to SDE to contribute to the development of the Banijay scripted activity that is a main objective of our U.S. strategy. Stephen is an incredibly gifted talent and his strong track record as an award-winning content creator and producer makes SDE a great fit for the business we’re building in North America. We look forward to working with Stephen and his team.”
 
David added, “This is a very exciting start to the New Year and I am delighted to see SDE join the Banijay Group family. We share mutual goals and ambitions. First and foremost, the desire to create top quality programming that entertains and has strong local and international appeal.”