October 2015 – Variety Premiere Report: TV’s New Reality
Key Takeaways:
- A burst of M&A activity in the past five years has transformed the global non-scripted TV marketplace.
- U.S. media conglomerates are investing in non-scripted production assets in an effort to expand their reach in global markets and diversify revenue sources.
- U.K. and European conglomerates are hoping to gain market share in the U.S. by acquiring leading production entities and fortifying them with the resources.
- The fee-for-service production business, once dismissed as a marginal contributor to the U.S. TV marketplace, has gained new prominence following a series of high-priced acquisitions of independent companies by foreign buyers.
- The deal-making atmosphere for unscripted programming is likely to become more competitive as newly fortified conglomerates try to gain advantage in business dealings with one another and as competitors in emerging TV markets in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
