STV Studios acquires Greenbird Media
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Editor
| 06 July 2023
As part of its bid to become the UK’s top nations and regions production company, the production business of Scottish broadcaster STV, STV Studios, is to bring Greenbird Media’s network of 15 independent production companies into its family of labels.
STV Studios Greenbird Media 6July2023
Since its formation in 2012 - and five years after Keshet International acquired a majority stake in the company - Greenbird is said to have built the largest independently-owned network of high-quality producers in the UK, with an archive of over 2,000 hours of content. Companies within the Greenbird network – now part of STV Studios – are set to produce over 350 hours of new programming across 25 returning series by the end of 2023.

Hit shows made by the producers in Greenbird’s network include: LEGO Masters (Tuesday’s Child for Channel 4/FOX) and The Hit List (Tuesday’s Child for BBC One); BAFTA-winning The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan (Rumpus Media for BBC Two) and Late Night Lycett (Rumpus Media for Channel 4); NTA-winning Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek (Flicker for ITV1); and Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (Owl Power for BBC Two).

The acquisition deal has an initial cash consideration of £21.4 million and will see STV Studios have expanded bases in Glasgow and London, as well as offices in Cardiff, Belfast, Brighton and Manchester, strengthening its ability to take advantage of the continuing growth of production in the nations and regions.

It will also boost the number of labels within STV Studios from nine to 24 and will create what STV claims will be an “unrivalled” network of senior creative leaders and a significantly expanded forward pipeline of new programme ideas, several of which have already been greenlit for 2024.

“Growing STV Studios into the UK’s #1 nations and regions production company is one of our core strategic objectives. This transformative acquisition represents a major step towards that goal, adding significant scale and creative firepower to the group and immediately accelerating STV’s overall diversification in terms of both revenue and profit,” said STV CEO Simon Pitts. “We’re delighted to be partnering with Greenbird and to welcome their incredibly talented network of creative leaders to the STV family as we jointly aim to grow our production base in the UK and internationally.”

The new combined business will pursue an international growth strategy, working with the producers, to generate maximum value from their shows outside the UK, for example building on Tuesday’s Child’s continued international success with formats like LEGO Masters which has reached 20 territories including the UK and US.

Greenbird founders, Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin, will join the STV Studios board in the roles of chief commercial officer and finance & integration director respectively, working alongside chief operating officer, Paul Sheehan, and under the leadership of managing director David Mortimer.

In a joint statement Munro and Mullin said: “This is an exciting new chapter in Greenbird’s history. We are hugely proud of the Greenbird incubator model we have built. It has given creatives space to flourish and deliver some of the most innovative, entertaining and loved programmes in the UK. Their creative power is unrivalled and has been recognised by viewers, critics, awards panels and through the volume of international sales that their shows have generated.”