Boat Rocker acquires Fremantlemedia kids

BOAT ROCKER MEDIA ACQUIRES FREMANTLEMEDIA’S KIDS & FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION

Boat Rocker’s Acquisition 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

January 24, 2018 (London, UK/Toronto Canada) -- Boat Rocker Media has acquired FremantleMedia’s Kids & Family Entertainment division, headquartered in London, UK, 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 catalogue of premium kids & family entertainment while simultaneously enhancing Boat Rocker Rights’ global reach for its scripted and unscripted catalogue, now totaling over 6,000 half hours.

“Today marks a major step in our expansion on the international stage,” said 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 8 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+ brands consisting of over 150 series and 1,600 half hours of programming for children from pre-school to tweens/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 & 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.”

Sangeeta Desai, Group COO and CEO of Emerging Markets, FremantleMedia, said: “We are incredibly proud of the business we’ve built and the amazing characters we have brought to families around the world. We are thrilled that the business will continue to grow and develop under Boat Rocker.”

Current FremantleMedia Kids productions include Season 2 of Danger Mouse and Season 1 of Bitz & Bob with BBC Children’s; Season 1 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.

ABOUT BOAT ROCKER MEDIA:

Boat Rocker Media is a global entertainment company that creates, produces and distributes premium media content for all platforms and develops brands and IP for worldwide monetization. Under its banner are Boat Rocker Studios (which includes Temple Street, Crooked Horse, Jam Filled Entertainment, Proper and Radical Sheep), Boat Rocker Rights, Boat Rocker Brands, Boat Rocker Digital and Boat Rocker Ventures (which includes Industrial Brothers, Marco Polo Learning and The Outline). A selection of its original and service projects includes The Next Step (Family Channel, Universal Kids, CBBC), The Loud House (Nickelodeon), The Bagel And Becky Show (Teletoon), Kody Kapow (Sprout, Zodiak Kids), Fangbone! (Family CHRGD, DISNEY XD US), Lost & Found Music Studios (Family Channel, Netflix), Wingin' It (Family Channel), Orphan Black (BBC AMERICA, Space), Killjoys (Syfy, Space), X Company (CBC), Being Erica (CBC, SOAPnet), Million Dollar Critic (W, BBC America), Over the Rainbow (CBC), Recipe to Riches (CBC, Food Network, Global), Canada's Next Top Model (CTV) and Darcy's Wild Life (NBC, Discovery Kids, Family Channel). For more information on Boat Rocker Media, please visit (www.boatrocker.com) and connect via (Twitter) or (Facebook).

So dangermouse rights stay then. But this new company just makes it?

Hmm, unless they've been shunted into a special "retro brands" division of FremantleMedia ahead of this, any Thames children's brands such as Rainbow were owned by FremantleMedia Kids & Family.

So Does this included the old dangermouse stuff?

There's a difference between the 'brand' and the old programmes though. The purchaser would only be interested in the going concerns, not the archive stuff.

I wonder if the reason they stopped is because of this deal and they'll start scheduling them again now they know Boat Rocker is interested in working with them.

The archive also came under the FremantleMedia Kids & Family division, as well as the brand ownership. Boat Rocker seems interested in content, not just exploiting brands (like HiT etc).