CANNES, France – Bell Media has signed 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 and international audiences.
Terms of the deal, announced Wednesday at MIPCOM, were not released. As a result of the partnership, pilots for several new formats are currently in development and pre-production at Bell Media, the company said.
"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, Bell Media’s president of CTV, sports, and entertainment programming, in the news 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”, added C. Scot Cru, EVP of international strategy and business development, 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."
"Highway Entertainment is in the business of funding great programming," said Highway Entertainment president and CEO Adam Ivers. "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."
