Lionsgate Sets Up Alternative TV Division

Lionsgate is launching Lionsgate Alternative Television, to be led by Craig Piligian.

The move follows the studio’s acquisition of Entertainment One (eOne). The new division combines the majority-owned Pilgrim Media Group with eOne’s U.S. and U.K. non-scripted groups, Blackfin, Renegade and Daisybeck Studios.

The development labels of each company will remain intact, with most of the production, postproduction and backroom operations integrated to work as one.

The newly formed division has been responsible for unscripted franchises such as Naked and Afraid, Street Outlaws, Wicked Tuna, The Yorkshire Vet, Ex on the Beach, Selling Sunset and MILF Manor, as well as limited series such as Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre.

Piligian, an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning producer, will serve as managing director. Pilgrim Media Group’s president and COO, Gretchen Stockdale, and chief current officer and general manager, Nicholas Caprio, will be reporting to Pilgrim. Renegade’s David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe will serve as senior executives on the management team.

Lionsgate Alternative Television’s labels will be overseen by creative officers Tom Huffman for Pilgrim, Bob Kusbit for Renegade, Geno McDermott for Blackfin, Matt Pritchard, Matt Walton and Malcolm Gerrie for eOne U.K. and Paul Stead for Daisybeck. Former HISTORY channel leader and Half Yard Productions CEO Dirk Hoogstra is joining Lionsgate to lead the eOne U.S. label. Lionsgate Alternative Television will also collaborate with the eOne Canada team, led by Jocelyn Hamilton.

“The launch of Lionsgate Alternative Television marks another key milestone in the expansion of our global television footprint,” said Lionsgate Television Group’s chairman and chief creative officer, Kevin Beggs. “As a major force in the non-scripted programming world, Craig is the perfect executive to take our unscripted operations to the next level.”

“I am thrilled to announce Lionsgate Alternative Television’s extraordinary management team, comprised of the most influential non-scripted producers working in our industry today,” said Piligian. “In addition, our top-tier creative leadership team will supercharge our business, as Lionsgate becomes one of the largest independent unscripted production companies in the world.”