Amaze TV, D&D Align in Bid to Create Global Media Group

LONDON, October 4: British factual entertainment producer Amaze TV and Dutch-based producer D&D Media Group are
aligning to build an as-yet-unnamed global media group, with the backing of
private-equity firm Palamon Capital Partners, which has made a “substantial
investment” in the company.

Amaze TV’s founder, Remy
Blumenfeld, has been appointed as chief creative officer of the new group. Blumenfeld
will spearhead the merged company’s British and North American expansion and
will join D&D’s co-founders Marc Dullaert and Paul Dumas on the executive
board. He will continue to serve as CEO of Amaze TV.

D&D specializes in drama,
entertainment and factual entertainment for television as well as new-media
channels. The company is among the largest players in its sector in Belgium and
the Netherlands and has operations in Germany and France. It recently acquired Palazzina
and Noordkaap TV Producties and together with Amaze has set its sights on other
targets, with plans to expand into Scandinavia and South Africa later this
year. Amaze TV completed its first round of funding in December 2006 and has
several programs in development in the U.K., including I’ve Got Your Number, which has been optioned in Germany, Romania,
Belgium, Denmark and Spain; One Of The Boys,
which has been optioned in France and Australia; and Witness
Protection, which has been optioned in the
U.S.

Marc Dullaert, the co-founder and
CEO of D&D, commented: “I
am pleased to have found in Amaze a brilliant, innovative think tank that will
boost the group’s creative endeavors and will help grow our business in Europe
as well as in the U.K. and North America. Together with my partners Remy
Blumenfeld and Paul Dumas, and backed by Palamon, we look forward to
significantly accelerating our ambitious expansion plans.”

As part of its expansion plans,
D&D is launching an international distribution operation at MIPCOM, headed
up by former Endemol executive Peter Van den Bussche, the managing
director of D&D Productions Belgium. The slate includes the science-based
celebrity quiz format That’s It!, as
well as How To, billed as an
action-adventure format filled with practical information.