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FremantleMedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FremantleMedia is the content and production division of RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London, England.
The company acquired various British and Australian production companies including Grundy Television, Crackerjack Productions (which have now merged to become FremantleMedia Australia), Thames Television and Talkback Productions (the last two later merged as talkbackTHAMES). Early on it merged with Germany's largest television production company, UFA.
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The company holds the rights to the Goodson/Todman game show library which includes such classic game shows as What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, Password, Now You See It, Match Game, I've Got a Secret and Family Feud, as well as non-Goodson shows such as Press Your Luck and the Reg Grundy library, which includes Time Machine, Sale of the Century, Scrabble, and Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak. Fremantle also produced the interactive gameshow Quizmania for ITV Play.
In addition, they also own (along with Columbia Pictures) the rights to most of the post 1948 Bob Hope film catalog that includes The Seven Little Foys, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Son of Paleface. They were also the distributors of the television series Baywatch, and also hold the rights to the Grundy Television Library such series like Wheel Of Fortune (not the U.S. version) and Neighbours, including game shows from its U.S. counterpart, Reg Grundy Productions.
In-house productions include the Fox Network TV show American Idol, current versions of The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and the 2002 revival of Beat the Clock (for Pax TV), carryover productions from Mark Goodson Productions.
FremantleMedia has also licensed rights to international formats including The Apprentice (with creator Mark Burnett for BBC One), The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (on Oxygen in the United States), the Simon Cowell-produced series The X Factor (in both the UK and Australia), and America's Got Talent for NBC, the long running Australian serials Neighbours and Prisoner , Distraction (on Comedy Central), and Gameshow Marathon (on CBS). In other countries they own the franchise rights to Betty La Fea in Germany (Verliebt In Berlin), Spain (Yo Soy Bea), The Netherlands (Lotte) and Sara in Belgium, with a new version, scheduled to air in Greece in 2007.
FremantleMedia's library also includes the 2001 CBS telefilm The Christmas Shoes (inspired by the NewSong #1 hit), and its 2005 sequel, The Christmas Blessing. (The song is the property of Bertelsmann AG, which is the majority owner in RTL group.)
The company also owns the back catalog of the American TV production company Alan Landsburg Productions, which was acquired by Thames in the early 1990s.
FremantleMedia currently leases the rights to all Goodson-Todman game shows (sans The Price Is Right and the 1994-1995 season of Family Feud) to GSN for television syndication, along with Press Your Luck, the 2000-02 version of To Tell the Truth, and the Richard Karn episodes of Family Feud.
FremantleMedia is broken down into two major divisions: Creative Networks, which comprises and co-ordinates local production operations, and FremantleMedia Enterprises, which handles distribution and licensing.
Creative Networks comprises three departments: Worldwide Entertainment, Worldwide Drama and FMX. This international production network supports global format roll-outs across the company by providing local production teams with instant access to ideas, expertise and trends from around the world.
Worldwide Entertainment supports successful shows as varied as Idols, The X Factor, and The Price Is Right and Family Feud. New additions include Thank God You're Here, Got Talent and PokerFace.
Worldwide Drama supports serial drama production in 12 territories around the world including long-running dramas The Bill (ITV1, UK), Neighbours (Network TEN, Australia), Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times - RTL, Germany), Salatut Elamat (Secret Lives - MTV3, Finland), Un Posto al Sole (A Place in the Sun - RAI 1, Italy) and Baratok Kozt (Between Friends - RTL Klub, Hungary).
Creative Networks' latest addition is FMX, a new division committed to reaching new audiences by creating non-linear new media experiences across a variety of emerging platforms. Its first live project is an online comedy-drama called Project V.
FremantleMedia Enterprises is the commercial arm of the company responsible for exploiting and developing FremantleMedia's properties off-screen in areas such as merchandising, the Internet, interactive television and wireless. It also focuses on more traditional ancillary rights businesses such as licensing, home entertainment and music publishing.