Banijay, All3Media mega-merger talks ‘highlight value of IP ownership’
The potential mega-merger between Banijay and All3Media is part of a wave of M&A activity based on securing valuable IP in 2026, according to entertainment lawyer Bradfield Biggers.
Reacting to news of the tie-up between the two European production and distribution behemoths – talks about which are reportedly in their advanced stages – US-based Biggers said it highlights the growing importance of IP in a streaming world.
France-based Banijay, which owns franchises including Peaky Blinders, MasterChef and Big Brother, could be combined with All3Media, which is behind shows including The Traitors, according to two sources close to the deal, which was first reported by Reuters.
Writing in a LinkedIn post, Biggers said the news comes as dealmaking across the media and entertainment sector continues to shift away from focusing on distribution outlets towards ownership of scarce IP and production infrastructure.
Biggers pointed to RedBird Capital Partners, which owns All3Media through RedBird IMI, as a bellwether for this strategy.
While RedBird has attracted attention for its role in Paramount Global’s attempted acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which has agreed to be bought by Netflix, Biggers argued RedBird’s parallel push to merge All3Media with Banijay Entertainment is more indicative of where the market is heading.
“Even when much of the industry was focused on chasing distribution scale at the height of the streaming wars, RedBird was positioning around scarce ownership of valuable IP and production infrastructure,” he wrote.
If completed, a Banijay/All3Media combination would create a production and distribution powerhouse spanning around 150 producers globally, with a catalogue of over 255,000 hours of content.
Biggers said this scale of IP ownership would be particularly valuable in the “post-streaming-wars, post-linear and broadcast environment” dominated by Netflix and other tech players.
These are built on “fundamentally different financial models than traditional studios and distributors,” meaning “durable IP ownership and production looks like a more defensible and sustainable foundation for value creation.”
“Plan to see a significant amount of M&A activity focused on securing these assets in 2026,” said LA-based Biggers, who leads law firm Halloran Farkas + Kittila (HFK)’s entertainment, media and music practice.
He added that a similar trend is already playing out in the music industry, where, with distribution effectively controlled by the likes of Spotify, labels and publishers have been doubling down on catalogue acquisitions in recent years.
Biggers regularly represents private equity, venture and strategic investors in the acquisition of music, film and technology assets, and counsels creatives, production companies and tech start-ups on talent, financing, licensing and exploitation arrangements.
Before joining HFK, Biggers practised at a prominent mid-sized law firm where he represented talent and companies across the music, film, television and social media sectors on a range of entertainment and corporate matters.
