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Fremantle’s UFA rebrands, appoints new management team in Hungary

Emese Ács, left, and Ute Biernat

Fremantle-owned German prodco UFA is expanding its operations in Hungary and has appointed a new management team to lead its subsidiary in the territory.

UFA CEO Sascha Schwingel has appointed Ute Biernat and Emese Ács as the new management of the Hungarian production subsidiary.

In parallel with the new management, UFA has begun operating in Hungary under the new name of UFA Produkció (previously UFA Magyarország).

Former FRAPA chair Biernat is a veteran of the German entertainment business and and was previously CEO of UFA Show & Factual. Ács’ career has included stints as a sales director at Nordic World and Absolutely Independent, and more recently exec producer at UFA Magyarország.

UFA Produkció is focusing on the production of non-fiction entertainment formats and intends to diversify in-house development of these in the future.

At the same time, UFA Produkció is also opening up to international co-operation beyond the domestic market with the aim of offering a production hub in Hungary for international partners as well.

Schwingel, CEO UFA, said: “Our goal is to grow further with UFA. To this end, we are building on our existing strengths in both creative and production areas. Following the recent foundation of UFA Mitte and the concomitant expansion of our activities in central Germany, we are now also setting the course for growth in Hungary.”

Ács, MD of UFA Produkció, said: “Our shows have had a solid foothold on the Hungarian market for many years and we now produce for all the private broadcasters. With our new strategic focus on non-fiction formats, we now intend to pay particular attention to developing our own ideas and formats in addition to the Fremantle catalogue.”

The history of UFA Produkció, formerly UFA Magyarország, dates back to 1997, when its first Hungarian daily series was produced for commercial television. In 2015, UFA Show & Factual successfully set up a division for non-fiction content. Since then, a total of 16 entertainment programmes have been produced in Hungary, including game shows, reality series and entertainment shows such as The X-Factor, The Voice and The Masked Singer.

In 2024, UFA Produkció produced seven shows for RTL Hungary, the TV2 Group and Antenna Entertainment including The Apprentice, Hole in the Wall and Masked Singer.

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