February 2014 – C21: Red Arrow buys Half Yard
Germany’s Red Arrow Entertainment Group has acquired a majority stake in US-based Half Yard Productions, the reality TV specialist behind series including TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress.
Half Yard, set up in 2006, has a roster of factual entertainment and documentaries to its name also.
Aside from Say Yes to the Dress, the firm has a number of other wedding-themed series to its name for TLC – I Found the Gown and Randy to the Rescue.
It’s also behind titles including Diggers for National Geographic, How the States Got Their Shapes for History, Hillbilly Handfishin’ for Animal Planet and American Loggers for Discovery.
Half Yard will continue to be led by founders, Sean Gallagher and Abby Greensfelder, who will serve as co-CEOs.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the acquisition of Half Yard marks Red Arrow’s fourth in the US production market, following investments in Kinetic Content, Fabrik Entertainment and Left/Right Productions.
Prior to founding Half Yard, Gallagher and Greensfelder were senior VPs for production, programming and development at Discovery Channel and TLC, respectively where they were responsible for commissioning franchises like Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch and MythBusters.
“We continue to be bullish on the US production market – but we always balance bullishness with caution and selectivity. We want the right partners with the right mindset. It didn’t take us long to realize that Abby and Sean would be great additions to the group,” said Red Arrow group MD Jan Frouman.
In a joint statement, the Half Yard founders added: “As we looked out at our next phase of growth, we wanted to team up with the right partner who had an entrepreneurial culture that would allow us to do what we do best and help us grow domestically and internationally.”
The news comes as Red Arrow parent ProSiebenSat.1 Group reported record annual results. Revenues rose 10.6% to €2.6bn (US$3.6bn). Underlying profit increased 6.1% to €790.3m and net income rose 6.8% to €379.7m.
The company said it had started the first quarter of 2014 “successfully in all segments and continues to benefit from a favourable economic environment in the TV advertising market.”
Jonathan Webdale 27-02-2014 © C21 Media
Half Yard, set up in 2006, has a roster of factual entertainment and documentaries to its name also.
Aside from Say Yes to the Dress, the firm has a number of other wedding-themed series to its name for TLC – I Found the Gown and Randy to the Rescue.
It’s also behind titles including Diggers for National Geographic, How the States Got Their Shapes for History, Hillbilly Handfishin’ for Animal Planet and American Loggers for Discovery.
Half Yard will continue to be led by founders, Sean Gallagher and Abby Greensfelder, who will serve as co-CEOs.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the acquisition of Half Yard marks Red Arrow’s fourth in the US production market, following investments in Kinetic Content, Fabrik Entertainment and Left/Right Productions.
Prior to founding Half Yard, Gallagher and Greensfelder were senior VPs for production, programming and development at Discovery Channel and TLC, respectively where they were responsible for commissioning franchises like Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch and MythBusters.
“We continue to be bullish on the US production market – but we always balance bullishness with caution and selectivity. We want the right partners with the right mindset. It didn’t take us long to realize that Abby and Sean would be great additions to the group,” said Red Arrow group MD Jan Frouman.
In a joint statement, the Half Yard founders added: “As we looked out at our next phase of growth, we wanted to team up with the right partner who had an entrepreneurial culture that would allow us to do what we do best and help us grow domestically and internationally.”
The news comes as Red Arrow parent ProSiebenSat.1 Group reported record annual results. Revenues rose 10.6% to €2.6bn (US$3.6bn). Underlying profit increased 6.1% to €790.3m and net income rose 6.8% to €379.7m.
The company said it had started the first quarter of 2014 “successfully in all segments and continues to benefit from a favourable economic environment in the TV advertising market.”
Jonathan Webdale 27-02-2014 © C21 Media
