Audience measurement firm ComScore is acquiring rival Rentrak through a stock swap. Rentrak, previous to the announcement, had a market value of $702 million. As part of the acquisition, ComScore’s CEO Serge Matta will head the combined company with Magid Abraham will be Executive Chairman and Rentrak chief Bill Livek named President. The merger means major competition for Neilsen in the race to figure out how to measure media content and ad campaigns across TV and digital devices.
Korean movie studio Showbox Corp, Blumhouse Productions and Ivanhoe Pictures have joined forces to co-develop and produce six Korean-language genre films. Ivanhoe will fully finance the films with Showbox overseeing production, marketing and distribution in Korea. Showbox was behind the 10 highest-grossing films in Korea while Blumhouse’s microbudget pictures have grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide. Production/financing company Ivanhoe recently co-produced and co-financed a slate of Asian films with Fox International Productions. This deal deepens Blumhouse and Ivanhoe’s relationship, as the two companies partnered with Phantom Films to produce local-language genre films in India.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G Unit Film and Television banner have signed a two-year exclusive overall deal with Starz to develop new projects. He will continue to executive produce Power for Starz, with production beginning on season three this month. The series ranks as Starz’s most watched original series ever with an average of 6.8 million. Jackson is repped by APA and attorneys Stephen Savva and Eric Feig.
Conrad Green has signed an one-year overall deal with Fox to develop original formats and executive produce unscripted series. He previously was the executive producer/showrunner on Dancing with the Stars for 18 seasons, for which he earned nine Emmy nominations, before leaving last year when he signed to executive produce and run Utopia for Fox. Previously, he was an executive at BBC in London.
Endemol Beyond USA, the digital content arm of production company Endemol Shine North America, partnered with Just Entertainment Studios and the style media company Nylon for an exclusive multi-platform partnership. Under the first-look development deal, Endemol and Just Entertainment will develop series and video projects using Nylon’s content. The deal also includes a long-form series about Nylon, as well as cross-promotion for Endemol Beyond USA and Nylon programming using social media.
Steve Harvey and his production banned East 112th Street Prods. have signed an overall production deal with Endemol Shine North America to develop unscripted, scripted and digital programming. Endemol is the studio behind his nationally syndicated eponymous daytime talk show, now in its fourth season. He also executive produces and hosts FremantleMedia’s long-running syndicated game show Family Feud and ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud, along with hosting the nationally syndicated morning radio show, Steve Harvey Morning Show, with 7 million listeners. Recently, Harvey teamed up with Ellen DeGeneres to executive produce and host the comedy/variety show Little Big Shots airing on NBC primetime in 2016.
Keshet International, the global distribution and production arm of Keshet Media Group, and Telefe, the leading content production, distribution and audiovisual services company out of Argentina, have closed a co-development deal to create new entertainment formats with international appeal. They will aim to develop two pilots a year for initial broadcast in the creators’ territories, with some projects already underway. KI will retain distribution rights for the resulting properties worldwide. Along with the local adaptation of KI’s interactive talent format Rising Star they are producing the game show Boom! to launch in October 2015.
French film giant StudioCanal has acquired 30% of French distributor Mars Films. StudioCanal’s partent, Canal Plus currently accounts for an estimated 15% of France’s annual film production spend around $250 million. As part of the deal, Mars’ Stephane Celerier will become a StudioCanal VP as a result of the deal, and will oversee a development committee made up of industry professionals with StudioCanal appointing Canal Plus’ film division president Didier Lupfer as president at the film unit with Olivier Courson departing. Courson previously executive produced Non-Stop, The Imitation Game, Shaun The Sheep and Paddington.