Zodiak Media

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Zodiak Media
FormerlyZodiak Productions (2007–2008)
Zodiak Entertainment (2008–2010)
Zodiak Media Group (2010–2012)
Industry TV production
Founded2007;16 years ago (2007)
Defunct2016;7 years ago (2016)
FateAcquired by, merged with, and folded into Banijay; some assets retain the Zodiak name
Successor Banijay
Headquarters Paris, France
Area served
Worldwide
Divisions Zodiak Active
Zodiak Americas
Zodiak Belgium
Zodiak France
Zodiak Kids
Zodiak MEAA
Zodiak Nederland
Zodiak Nordic
Zodiak UK
Zodiak Russia
Subsidiaries Adventure Line Productions
Bwark Productions
The Comedy Unit
GTV Productions
IWC Media
Jarowskij
KM Productions
Magnolia
Mastiff
RDF Television
Red House
Sol Productions
TeleAlliance
Touchpaper Television
Yellow Bird

Zodiak Media was a global independent television group with up to 45 companies covering fiction, entertainment, and animation, spread across 15 countries, including France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Spain, the Nordic countries, and Russia.

Contents

The group merged in February 2016 with Banijay Group, which then became the world's leading independent producer of content for television and multimedia platforms. [1]

Zodiak Rights, the international distribution arm of Zodiak Media, now a Banijay Group company, is one of the leading distributors on the international market. Its catalogue has over 20,000 hours of programming. [2]

History

The Zodiak Media group was formed by the successive acquisition of television production companies under the impetus of the Italian De Agostini: Magnolia and Marathon Media in 2007 (Italy, Spain and France), Zodiak TV in 2008 (Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia), [3] RDF Media in 2010 (United Kingdom and United States) [4] and Bwark in 2011 (United Kingdom).

Zodiak Kids, a subsidiary specializing in family and youth programs, was created in 2014.

In July 2015, Banijay Group and Zodiak Media announce their merger. [5] The merger is effective on February 23, 2016. [6] Banijay Group then becomes one of the world's leading content producers. [7]

Key Programs

Among the programs produced by Zodiak Media: Being Human , the supernatural series produced for the BBC and SyFy US; Wallander ; the Millennium Trilogy ; the French series Sous le soleil , and Versailles , in co-production with Capa and Incendo for Canal+.

Zodiak Media is also the originator of the formats Koh-Lanta , Fort Boyard (Adventure Line Productions), The Secret Millionaire , The Best Singers (Swedish), and Location, Location, Location .

Zodiak Kids' catalogue includes programs such as Waybuloo , Totally Spies! , Rekkit Rabbit , Mister Maker , and Gormiti .

Related Research Articles

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David Frank was the CEO of Dial Square 86 and the chairman of The RightsXchange, which is an online marketplace for TV rights. He was the founder of RDF Media and the onetime CEO of Zodiak Media SA. He was also Chairman of Mint Digital, a digital product development studio in London and New York, and Objekt Films, a London-based film and video content creation company.

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References

  1. "Home" . Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  2. Zodiak Rights (24 November 2016). "Zodiak Rights". Zodiak Rights. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  3. "Content Production / Distribution". Gruppo de Agostini. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  4. Sweney, Mark "RDF Media sold to Zodiak Entertainment", The Guardian , Wednesday 2 June 2010. Retrieved on 27 November 2012.
  5. "Stéphane Courbit: «Banijay devient un acteur majeur de la production mondiale»". LEFIGARO (in French). 2016-02-25. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  6. "Zodiak and Banijay finalize merger" . Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  7. "Banijay Group et Zodiak Media fusionnent pour former un géant mondial de la production". ozap.com (in French). 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2023-07-26.