Baniiay acquires Funwood Media

Banijay Rights, the distribution arm of Banijay Group, has bought Italian-based distributor and producer Funwood Media.

Tim Mutimer

Funwood Media operates primarily across Italy and Spain through its sub-brands Funwood Media Italia and Funwood Media Ibérica.

It works with many leading players across both regions, including Rai, Sky, Discovery, Paramount, Turner, TVE, Mediaset, A3 Media, MGM and Movistar+. The company also recently moved into France with national channel M6.

Funwood’s production credits include Monica Chef – a 40×30′ kids’ series in collaboration with Disney Channel Italia, and La Sala – an 8×60′ police thriller.

In addition, the company runs an L&M portfolio encompassing brands Daniel Tiger, Atari, Animal Planet, Godzilla and Shaun the Sheep.

Funwood’s founder Aldo Spagnoli will partner with Banijay Rights’ CEO Tim Mutimer to capitalise on the company’s expertise across Italy, Spain and France.

Mutimer said: “Aldo is incredibly well-established across Spain and Italy, and with a growing presence in France, he is perfectly positioned to add value to our activities there, while supplementing our ongoing distribution and licensing efforts.”

No financial details were disclosed.

The acquisition comes less than two months after Banijay Group agreed to buy rival Endemol Shine Group. This move will create the biggest production and distribution company in the world with a catalogue of close to 100,000 hours of shows and series. On completion, Banijay Group will own almost 200 production companies in 23 territories.