Bell Media announced yesterday a multi-faceted partnership with United Artists Media Group (a newly formed joint venture among MGM, Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, and Hearst Entertainment) and Omnicom Canada Corp.’s Highway Entertainment to create new television formats for Canadian as well as international viewers.
As a result of the partnership, pilots for several new formats are currently in development and pre-production at Bell Media, parent company of conventional broadcaster CTV, the leading adapter of formats for the Canadian market. Terms of the deal were not released.
“We are thrilled to partner with Mark Burnett, a pioneer in format television, and United Artists Media Group, along with Canada’s Highway Entertainment,” said Phil King, President of CTV, Sports, and Entertainment Programming at Bell Media, in a press release. “With enormous pedigree and an incredible track record for hit format creation, we look forward to not only developing content for our own market, but internationally as well.”
“CTV and Omnicom are important strategic partners for United Artists Media Group. CTV’s desire to produce more original content and Highway Entertainment’s ability to come in with funding is something we are really excited about,” said C. Scot Cru, Executive Vice President of International Strategy and Business Development at United Artists Media Group. “Phil and his team are the great collaborators, we’re looking forward to bringing these new shows not only to Canada but distributing them worldwide through our partnership with MGM.”
“Highway Entertainment is in the business of funding great programming,” said Adam Ivers, President and CEO of Highway Entertainment. “Doing so with creative forces like Mark Burnett and Bell Media reinforces the strength of our model and the true spirit of partnership at a time when our industry is looking to innovate.”
