FME Sets Up Asian JV

CANNES: FremantleMedia Enterprises has set up a joint venture with the Chinese production company Asian Union (AU) to faciliate the traffic of factual content in and out of China.

Vision Ventures Media will be headed up by Liu Xiao Lin from Asian Union as chairman, while Ganesh Rajaram, the VP of sales for Asia at FME, will be a board director and responsible for the programming relationship between FME and VVM. FME is programming a new slot called Vision that is being syndicated across China. It is up and running in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chong Qing, Jenzen and Fujian with titles such as World at War, Hitler’s Bodyguard and Arctic Exposure with Nigel Marven. Vision content is being reversioned to cater to local tastes with theatrical translators and well-known actors for voiceovers. VVM will also be used by both FME and AU to actively develop and deficit-finance suitable projects from Chinese broadcasters and producers. AU will work with those producers to reversion the content for the international market, to be distributed by FME. VVM will also forge creative partnerships between Chinese and international producers in the development of new factual programs. Early development work has already started on several projects, including ones on Confucius and Sun Tzu.

David Ellender, the CEO of FME, noted: “China is a hugely important region for FME, serving as a major market for our programs, as well as having some of the world’s leading production talent. Asian Union is by far one of the most renowned in the industry and we’re delighted to be partnering with them in what represents a key part of growth strategy for the Asia Pacific region."

Liu Xiao Lin, executive director and president of Asian Union, added: "Collaborating with FME means we’re combining our local expertise with their impressive knowledge in the international market. The partnership is mutually beneficial and we’re confident that it will result in some groundbreaking factual programs and new relationships as the Chinese broadcast and production market takes its place on the world stage."