LOS ANGELES: Vivendi Entertainment has acquired from Genius Products the exclusive distribution rights to a collection of brands that includes World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE ), Sesame Street, Classic Media and RHI Entertainment.
The distribution rights are for North America, except RHI and WWE, which are for the U.S. only. As part of this acquisition, Genius Products will continue operations and has entered into a new multi-year distribution deal with Vivendi Entertainment to distribute Genius’ remaining catalogue and future releases. Vivendi has hired several key Genius executives to join the company, including Mitch Budin, who has been appointed executive VP and general manager of Vivendi Home Entertainment.
"We have long admired the brands that will now be part of the Vivendi Entertainment family and are excited to get started with our new partnerships," said Tom O’Malley, the president of Vivendi Entertainment. "With the addition of many Genius sales and marketing personnel, we have a team loaded with talent, and enjoy strong retail relationships. Further, we provide financial stability to our partners at a time when it is especially important. With this transaction, our company becomes an ideal home for other top brands seeking a DVD and digital distribution partner."
"Mitch is recognized and respected as a leader within the industry and will play a vital role in expanding our home entertainment business even further," added O’Malley, to whom Budin reports. "We are thrilled to have him on the team."
"This alliance will allow our company to fully focus on our core strengths including content creation, development, production and management," commented Trevor Drinkwater, the CEO of Genius Products. "We believe VE is the perfect home for these strong brands as well as other independent content providers, and we look forward to leveraging our relationship with VE to accelerate our developing business model by enhancing our presence in film, television, video games, DVD and music while expanding into other entertainment based categories such as toys, electronics and graphic novels."
