Description
All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from across the United Kingdom and all other parts of Europe (IDTV in the Netherlands and All3Media Deutschland in Germany), New Zealand (South Pacific Pictures) and the United States.
History
All3Media Limited was formed in 2003 after the Chrysalis's television arm was acquired by a consortium led by ex-Granada chief Steve Morrison, former ITV Head of Programming, David Liddiment, and former Operations MD at Granada, Jules Burns.
On 3 June 2004, they announced that they acquired independent factual producer Lion TV which was founded in 1997 to expand the group across the Atlantic.
In June 2005, the company acquired Mersey Television the creator of the soap operas Brookside and Hollyoaks making the company's 10th acquisition after they bid for that company back in April 2005. It was later renamed as Lime Pictures in 2006.
On 22 June 2007, the company acquired the Birmingham-based independent production company Maverick Television for an undisclosed sum. On 16 August 2007, the company acquired Objective Productions.
In 2008 the company acquired U.S. indie production company Zoo Productions which was established in 1994 making the company's first American acquisition.
On 13 August 2010, they acquired the production company Optomen the company behind Kitchen Nightmares along with One Potato Two Potato for £40m.
In 2012, All3Media announced that they had launched US production arm in Los Angeles, California named All3Media America.
In 2013, it was named the top UK independent producer, with a turnover of £473m. On 8 May 2014, it was announced that Discovery, Inc. and Liberty Global would acquire All3Media, in a joint venture valued at US$930 million.
On 31 March 2015, All3Media announced that they had acquired the film, TV & theatre company Neal Street Productions.
On 7 January 2016, the company acquired the producer of The Missing New Pictures which was established in April 2013 by Charlie Pattinson.
On 26 April 2016, British chef and producer Gordon Ramsay formed a partnership with the All3Media group and they launched a joint venture called Studio Ramsay. The company will be fully owned by Gordon Ramsay but had support from the All3Media company to develop and produce unscripted shows with All3Media handling distribution rights to the shows. However five years later on 4 August 2021, Gordon Ramsay announced a major overall deal with Fox Entertainment by launching a new production company called Studio Ramsay Global with All3Media selling their partnership of Ramsay's then-current company Studio Ramsay to Fox Entertainment.
On 10 February 2017 it was announced that All3Media had acquired the producer of Fleabag Two Brothers Pictures which was founded in 2014 by Harry and Jack Williams with All3Media International the international division of All3Media taking distribution rights to the shows that Two Brothers produced. Also on 3 May of that same year, All3Media had acquired two production companies Raw and Betty TV from its former owner Discovery Communications (which would later become Discovery, Inc. in 2018 and later Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022).
On 11 January 2018, the company's American arm launched production company Woodland Park Productions which will produce unscripted content and will sit under All3Media's American division.
On 15 May 2019, All3Media had launched scripted production label named West Road Pictures with Blood producer Jonathan Fisher.
On 15 October 2019, the company launched a new Factual production company Angelica Films with former BBC and Field Day executive Sally Angel. But three years later on 31 October 2022, Angelica Films had left All3Media in order to become an independent company
On 24 September 2020, BBC Studios announced their intention to sell their stake in their German joint venture with All3Media, Tower Productions, and launch their own German division, BBC Studios Germany Productions. The sale took effect at the end of 2020.
On 3 December 2020, All3Media acquired Silverback Films, the producer of the Netflix series Our Planet.
On 17 May 2021, it was announced that Discovery, which co-owned All3Media, would be acquiring AT&T subsidiary WarnerMedia and merging with it to form Warner Bros. Discovery. On 11 June 2021, All3Media had acquired NENT Studios UK from Nordic Entertainment Group now known as Viaplay Group. They later merged its operations with All3Media's international division. The Warner Bros. Discovery merger was completed by 8 April 2022.
On 31 May 2023, co-owner Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was selling its stake to ITV plc. While the deal didn't reach an agreement in July 2023, with Mediawan, Banijay, and Sony remaining as potential buyers, ITV later told investors that they were "no longer actively exploring a deal but still continuing to monitor the situation". Banjiay was reported as of August. After the auction for All3Media began in September 2023, three frontrunners emerged in the final stages of auction the next month: Goldman Sachs, Peter Chernin's The North Road Company and Banijay, with Sony and Fremantle dropping out of contention.
