All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London.[2] The All3Media group consists of more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from 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.[3]
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 & John Pfeil.[4]
At the start of January 2004 following the rebranding of Chrysalis TV Group to All3Media back in 2003, All3Media had established its international formats sales division to handle adaptations of All3Media's formats to international broadcasters in other countries.[5]
In June 2004, All3Media had entered exclusive talks to acquire Lion Television alongside its Scottish division and Lion's American productions offices based in both Los Angeles & Miami and its Beijing production office (via a joint venture with Chinese television network Phoenix Television) in order for All3Media expand the group across the Atlantic and the Asian regions that would give the former turnover of at least £115m while Lion Television's co-founders Jeremy Mills and Richard Bradley would stay when All3Media's acquisition of Lion Television is completed.[6] Two weeks later on that same month of that year, All3Media had confirmed that they acquired Lion Television and its Scottish production division, American and Chinese production offices based in Los Angeles, Miami and Beijing (the latter was a joint venture with Phoenix Television) this gained All3Media's first entry into the American & Chinese production business as Lion's American offices became All3Media's own American & Chinese production services while Lion Television's co-founders Jeremy Mills and Richard Bradley continued leading Lion Television.[7]
In June 2005, the company acquired Mersey Television the creator of the soap operas Brookside and Hollyoaks in the company's 10th acquisition after they bid for that company in April 2005.[8] It was renamed as Lime Pictures in 2006.
In February 2007, All3Media had announced that they've expanding their operations into Germany by making an agreement to acquire Cologne-based German independent television production company MME Moviement with All3Media's German division Pertus Zehnte being renamed to All3Media Deutschland.[9][10] In June 2007, All3Media announced that they've acquired the Birmingham-based independent production company behind 10 Years LongerMaverick Television for an undisclosed sum, expanding All3Media's British television production portfolio with Maverick Television continued operated independently within All3Media along with their name.[11][12] Two months later in August of that same year, All3Media had announced that they've expanded their television production operations by acquiring Andrew O'Conner's magic & comedy production company Objective Productions, bringing All3Media companies to 12 and expanded its scripted operations into the comedy genre as Objective Productions became a subsidiary under the former while its founders Michael Vine and Andrew O’Connor continued leading the acquired comedy production studio.[13][14]
In June 2008, All3Media had announced that they've acquired American-based unscripted television production company Zoo Productions making the company's first American acquisition outside the United Kingdom and expanding their operations into the United States with Zoo Productions became All3Media first American production subsidiary as the group would start producing American versions of its programming while its founders Barry Poznick and John Stevens had continued leading Zoo Productions under All3Media as its international arm All3Media International would distribute Zoo Productions's future programming worldwide.[15][16]
In August 2010, All3Media announced that it had acquired independent unscripted television production company Optomen Television along with its American television production division Optomen Productions US and its joint venture production subsidiary with TV chef Gordon Ramsay, One Potato Two Potato for £40m expanding All3Media's television production operations and their expansion into the cooking portfolio.[17][18]
In June 2012, All3Media announced it had sold its cooking-based production subsidiary Cactus TV (which All3Media had brought it under its former name Chrysalis TV Group back in August 1994) back to its co-founders Amanda Ross and her husband Simon Ross for an undisclosed sum, effectively returning as an independent production company as its co-founders Amanda Ross and Simon Ross would operate Cactus TV at a new studio in South London.[19]
In December 2012, All3Media announced that they had launched US production arm in Los Angeles named All3Media America.[20]
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.[21] In March 2015, All3Media announced that they had made a deal to acquire Sam Mendes' film, TV & theatre production company Neal Street Productions.[22]
In January 2016, All3Media announced that they had acquired Charlie Pattinson's British drama production company New Pictures to expand their drama development output and their British television production operations with co-founder and co-CEO of New Pictures and former co-founder of Company Pictures Charlie Patterson continuing to run the company within All3Media.[23][24][25] 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 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.[26]
In February 2017, All3Media announced that they had acquired British television production company Two Brothers Pictures who previously produced two shows with All3Media's subsidiary New Pictures which they brought back in 2016 as All3Media expanded their drama production portfolio with the company's founders Harry and Jack Williams continuing to lead the acquired company with All3Media International the international division of All3Media taking distribution rights to the shows that Two Brothers produced.[27][28] 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).[29]
On 11 January 2018, the company's American arm launched production company Woodland Park Productions which to produce unscripted content and is under All3Media's American division.[30] In December 2018, All3Media announced that they've entered the sports production genre by acquiring British international sports production company Aurora Media Worldwide.[31] In May 2019, All3Media had announced that they've launched scripted production label named West Road Pictures with Blood producer Jonathan Fisher leading the new production label as their managing director.[32]
On 15 October 2019, the company launched a new factual production company Angelica Films with former BBC and Field Day executive Sally Angel.[33] But on 31 October 2022, Angelica Films had left All3Media becoming an independent company[34] 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.[35] In December 2020, All3Media announced that they had acquired leading natural history film and television production company Silverback Films, the producer of the Netflix series Our Planet.[36][37]
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.[38] 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.[39] The Warner Bros. Discovery merger was completed by 8 April 2022.In August 2022, All3Media announced that they've merged two of their subsidiaries which were Birmingham-based production company Maverick Television and the Glasgow-based division of Objective Media Group named Objective Media Group Scotland to form a factual and factual entertainment production company within Objective Media Group named 141 Productions.[40]
On 31 May 2023, co-owner Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was selling its stake to ITV plc.[41] 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".[42][1] Banijay was reported as of August.[43] 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.[44] On 12 December 2023, RedBird IMI was reported to be the frontrunner, with the company in advanced talks with Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global to acquire the company for around £1 billion ($1.26 billion) in a deal that could be completed before the end of the year.It was also reported that Banijay had dropped out of contention the previous week, with the North Road Company and Goldman Sachs also exiting.[45]
On February 16, 2024, RedBird IMI confirmed that they would be acquiring All3Media from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global for £1.15 billion, with the deal expected to close sometime in the second or third quarter of the year, pending regulatory approval.[46] On May 16, 2024, the sale was announced to have been completed, making it the single largest acquisition made by RedBird.RedBird IMI's CEO Jeff Zucker was made chairman of All3Media, while Jane Turton and Sara Geater remain CEO and COO of the company respectively.[47]
On 23 November 2024, Sky News reported that CVC Capital Partners, TF1, RedBird Capital Partners, All3Media, Mediawan, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had been linked to a potential takeover bid for ITV plc and a possible break-up of core assets including ITV Studios and ITVX.[48]
On 30 January 2025, Reuters reported that RedBird IMI were in early-stage talks with ITV plc to merge the All3Media and ITV Studios production businesses.[49]
In September 2025, All3Media established a new unscripted label known as Seamonster TV, led by Lime Pictures executives Mirella Breda and Sam Pollard; the unit was designed as a "feeder label" that would focus on developing formats to license to outside producers, rather than producing them in-house.[50] On September 11, 2025, All3Media closed its scripted studio Seven Stories.[51]
On 3 March 2026, All3Media and Banijay Entertainment announced their intent to merge, which will create a company with a total valuation of US$8 billion and estimated combined revenues of €4.4 billion in 2024.The merged company will be led by Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti, and will be equally owned by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI.[52]
Companies
All3Media operates a diverse portfolio of approximately 50 production and distribution companies globally. Its subsidiaries are organized into functional and geographic divisions:
Scripted and Film
Unscripted and Factual
Entertainment and Comedy
Digital and International
The group's 2026 merger with Banijay involves the integration of these labels into a larger combined creative network [53].
