Move solidifies the company’s position as a leading vertically integrated kids & family content provider with full-scale operations in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.
LONDON AND TORONTO -- Boat Rocker Media has acquired FremantleMedia’s Kids & Family Entertainment division, headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Hong Kong.
Effective immediately, this acquisition signals Boat Rocker’s continued commitment to developing, producing and monetizing an expanded catalog of premium kids and family entertainment while simultaneously enhancing Boat Rocker Rights’ global reach for its scripted and unscripted catalog, now totaling more than 6,000 half hours.
“Today marks a major step in our expansion on the international stage,” says John Young, CEO, and David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, co-executive chairmen of Boat Rocker Media. “We have deep respect for the unique expertise and brands that the FremantleMedia Kids & Family team have created over the last eight years and are excited for future collaborations with such an impressive collection of global broadcast and ancillary partners.”
Established in 2010, FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment has built an exceptional portfolio of 45-plus brands consisting of more than 150 series and 1,600 half hours of programming for children from preschool to tweens and teens. FremantleMedia’s current Kids & Family Entertainment division will be integrated into Boat Rocker Media’s global distribution arm, Boat Rocker Rights, immediately expanding its scale and capabilities, particularly in European and Asian markets. Boat Rocker Rights is overseen by its president, Jon Rutherford.
Innovative brands such as Danger Mouse and Bitz & Bob will continue to be developed under the groundbreaking co-production agreement with the BBC as well as other leading global partners. “We are incredibly excited that today Boat Rocker solidifies its place as a leading global provider of truly original kids and family content,” says Michel Pratte, CRO of Boat Rocker Media, who oversees Boat Rocker Rights, Brands, Ventures and Digital. “This expansion is the perfect complement to Boat Rocker’s curated group of kids and family companies, including Jam Filled Animation Studios, with over 450 2D and 3D animators; Radical Sheep; as well as our investments and production partnerships with the breakout studio Industrial Brothers; and innovative start up Marco Polo Learning.”
“We are incredibly proud of the business we’ve built and the amazing characters we have brought to families around the world,” says Sangeeta Desai, group COO and CEO of emerging markets, FremantleMedia. “We are thrilled that the business will continue to grow and develop under Boat Rocker.”
Current FremantleMedia Kids productions include season two of Danger Mouse and season one of Bitz & Bob with BBC Children’s; season one of live-action sketch comedy The Who Was? Show with Netflix and Penguin Young Readers; and animated comedy Tasty Tales of the Food Truckers, with Shellhut Media. The expanded Boat Rocker team will also be taking a robust development slate of original IP and adaptations that will begin rolling out as soon as February 2018 at Kidscreen.
Source: Boat Rocker Media
Tom McLean has been writing for years about animation from a secret base in Los Angeles.
