A busy year of deal making has left Channel 5 and large swathes of the UK TV production sector in US hands.
After taking a look at how foreign ownership of UK producers and shows has grown over the past decade and how this affects the evening schedules of the five main terrestrial networks on a typical weekday, here is a more in-depth look at which foreign company owns what.
Viacom
US publicly listed media and entertainment company operating globally: film and TV production, cable and satellite TV channels
Market capitalisation (29/10/14): $31bn
2013 revenue: $13.8bn
Global employees: 10,500
UK business
Broadcasting: Channel 5 - bought from Richard Desmond for £450m in April 2014, annual revenue approx £350m
Multichannel: 20 cable, satellite and Freeview TV channels - including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon
21st Century Fox
US publicly listed media and entertainment company with global operation: film and TV production, Fox US terrestrial network, cable and satellite TV channels including Fox News
Market cap: $74bn
2013 revenue: $27.7bn
Global employees: 25,000
UK business
TV production: joint venture with Apollo Global Management includes Shine Group (MasterChef, Broadchurch, One Born Every Minute) and Endemol (Big Brother, Bad Education, Black Mirror) – combined UK annual revenue £398m (source: Televisual Production 100 2014)
Pay-TV: BSkyB - largest shareholder with 39.1%, annual revenue £7.6bn; 10.4 million TV customers, 4.9 million broadband; operates channels including Sky1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky News, Sky Sports and Sky Movies
Multichannel: operates channels in UK including Fox and Fox News
Liberty Global
US publicly listed, UK-headquartered cable TV, broadband and telecoms company: 24.5 million subscribers in 12 European countries
Market cap: $10bn
2013 revenue: $17.3bn
Global employees: 35,000
UK business
Cable: owns Virgin Media - 4.8 million TV, broadband and telecoms customers; 2013 revenue £4.1bn
TV production: in May signed joint deal with Discovery Communications to buy All3Media, production business with £288m UK annual revenue (£508m total)*; parent group of companies Bentley (Midsomer Murders), Company (The Village), Lime (TOWIE), Lion (Horrible Histories), North One (Fifth Gear), Objective (Fresh Meat), One Potato Two Potato (Ramsay’s Costa Del Nightmares), Optomen (Kevin’s Man Made Home), Studio Lambert (Gogglebox), Maverick (Embarrassing Bodies)
Broadcasting: earlier this year bought BSkyB’s 6.4% stake in ITV, 2013 revenue £2.7bn
Discovery Communications
US publicly listed TV channels and production business, operates globally
Market cap: $16bn
2013 revenue: $5.5bn
Global employees: approx 5,500
UK business
TV production: 50% stake in All3Media (see above); owns production companies Raw TV (Locked Up Abroad) and Betty (The Undateables), combined UK revenues £51m*
Multichannel: More than 20 channels including Discovery, Animal Planet and QUEST
Time Warner
US publicly listed media and entertainment company operating globally: film and TV production, cable and satellite TV channels including HBO and CNN
Market cap: $67bn
2013 revenue: $29.8bn
Global employees: 26,000
UK business
TV production: subsidiary Warner Bros owns companies with combined UK turnover of £109m (global £140m)* under Shed Media umbrella – including Wall to Wall (Who Do You Think You Are?), Ricochet (Cowboy Builders), Twenty Twenty (The Hoarder Next Door), Headstrong Pictures (New Tricks), Renegade (Don’t Tell The Bride)
Multichannel: subsidiary Turner Broadcasting operates channels available in the UK including CNN International, TCM and Cartoon Network
Comcast
US publicly listed media and cable company: largest US cable operator; through subsidiary NBCUniversal has global operations in film and TV production, US terrestrial network NBC, US Spanish language terrestrial network Telemundo, cable and satellite TV channels including MSNBC and USA Network
Market cap: $141bn
2013 revenue: $64.7bn
Global employees: 136,000
UK business
TV production: NBCUniversal owns Carnival (Downton Abbey), Monkey Kingdom (Made In Chelsea) and Chocolate Media (Remembrance Week), combined annual revenue £96m*
Bertelsmann
Privately owned German media company with global operations encompassing book publishing (Penguin Random House joint venture with Pearson); TV and radio broadcasting, TV production (RTL, majority shareholder); magazines (Gruner + Jahr, majority shareholder)
2013 revenues: $20.9bn
Global employees: 104,000
UK business
TV production: RTL subsidiary, London-based FremantleMedia, owns UK companies Thames (The X Factor), Talkback (Celebrity Juice), Boundless (The Apprentice), Retort (PhoneShop) and Newman Street (Suspects), combined annual revenue £150.7m*
Sony
Japanese consumer electronics, entertainment and media company publicly listed in Toyko and New York; involved in film, TV and video game production, operates TV channels including Animax and AXN, through Los Angeles-based subsidiary Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)
Market cap: $20bn
2013 revenue: $71.8bn
Global employees: 140,900
UK business
TV production: SPE subsidiary Sony Pictures Television owns UK companies Left Bank Pictures (Cardinal Burns), Victory Television (Tough Young Teachers), Gogglebox Entertainment (Release The Hounds), Silver River (The Big Allotment Challenge), and Electric Ray, combined annual turnover £70.2m*
Multichannel: operates UK channels including Sony Entertainment Television, Movies4Men, True Drama, Chart Show TV and Flava
De Agostini
Privately owned Italian media company involved in magazine publishing, TV and radio broadcasting and production
2013 revenue: $6.3bn
UK business
TV production: Through Paris-based subsidiary Zodiak Media owns UK companies RDF (Only Connect), IWC (Location, Location, Location), Bwark (The Inbetweeners), Touchpaper (Being Human), The Comedy Unit (Limmy’s Show!) and Red House (Double Your House for Half the Money), combined annual turnover £64m*
* source: Televisual Production 100 2014
