LOS ANGELES, SAN FRANCISCO, and FORT WORTH, Texas, July
17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TPG Growth, the middle market
and growth equity platform of alternative asset firm TPG, and
Liberty Global, the world's largest international television and
broadband company, today announced the launch of a global
television production and distribution studio—Platform One
Media.
TPG Growth will fund their investment through Evolution Media,
an investment partnership with CAA and Participant Media.
Liberty Global will initially be taking a minority equity stake in
the business, attributed to Liberty Global Group. Additional terms
of the investment were not disclosed.
The independent, start-up studio will curate, develop, produce,
and distribute high-quality scripted programming for the U.S. and
international markets. Veteran television executive Katie O'Connell Marsh, former CEO of Gaumont
Television, has been appointed CEO and will be spearheading the
company's activities.
"TPG Growth has a history of identifying and building companies,
such as STX Entertainment, that can redefine their categories,"
said Bill McGlashan, Founder and
Managing Partner of TPG Growth and Co-Founder and CEO of The Rise
Fund. "Working with our partners at Evolution Media, we look
forward to leveraging our collective experiences and networks in
the entertainment space to build this business with Katie and her
team."
"Platform One Media has the key ingredients Liberty Global
values in a strategic asset: great leadership, a clear vision and
aligned, well capitalized partners," said Bruce Mann, Chief Programming Officer at Liberty
Global. "It also gives us the opportunity to work with
world-class talent creating high-quality scripted programming which
could potentially feature on Liberty Global's pay-TV platforms in
Europe. We are fortunate to have
Katie O'Connell Marsh bringing her
vision, drive and creative track record, and to be working with TPG
Growth, who we view as a natural strategic partner."
"The explosion of original content globally is creating an
opportunity for new, innovative, and diverse ways to engage
audiences beyond the series itself," said O'Connell Marsh. "With Platform One Media,
and our partners TPG Growth and Liberty Global, we are perfectly
positioned to develop and distribute compelling narratives
that are artistic, meaningful and addictive by working
closely with innovative, inspiring talent to bring to life
their creative visions."
For the past 20 years, Katie O'Connell
Marsh has held senior management positions covering all
aspects of entertainment television programming. O'Connell Marsh spent five years as
CEO at Gaumont Television, where she was responsible for
launching the studio operation from the ground up in October
2010. While there, she developed and produced leading drama
series, including the acclaimed NBC series Hannibal,
the Golden Globe-nominated Netflix series Narcos, and
Hemlock Grove for Netflix. On the comedy front, she
developed F is for Family for Netflix and Gaumont, as well
as the Emmy-winning 30 Rock while at NBC and the
Emmy-winning Arrested Development during her tenure at
Imagine.
Most recently, O'Connell Marsh
was Head of Global Live Action Television for Dreamworks
Animation where she was tasked with launching the live action
television operation for the company. In 2015,
O'Connell Marsh was recognized
in Variety's Women's Impact Report, and in 2014, she
was recognized in The Hollywood Reporter's Top 100 Power
Women in Entertainment.
Additional appointments to the Platform One Media executive team
include:
- Courtney Conte, who most
recently served as President of Slingshot Global Media, will be
Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President. Conte previously
served as COO of BBC Worldwide Productions and Co-President of
Carsey-Werner. He has developed and produced numerous television
series for Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS,
UPN, The WB, BBC, HBO, Showtime, Nickelodeon and Lifetime.
- Elisa Ellis, who most recently
served as the Head of Creative for the Live Action Television
division of Dreamworks Animation, will be joining as Chief Creative
Officer. Before joining Dreamworks in 2016, Ellis was President of
Creative Affairs & Production for Gaumont Television. At
Gaumont, she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the
company's series development and production including
Hannibal and Narcos.
- Erik Pack will join Platform One
Media as Head of Distribution & Co-Production based in
London. Pack most recently served
as President of International Distribution & Co-production at
Gaumont Television. Prior to that, Pack was Executive Vice
President of International Sales and Co-Productions at Power, a
London-based production and
distribution company. Previously, Pack was at Hallmark
Entertainment for 12 years, where he structured output deals across
Europe and Latin America.
- Neil Strum, who most recently
served as Head of Business and Legal Affairs for Slingshot Global
Media, will take on the same position at Platform One Media. Prior
to Slingshot, he served as Executive Vice President at Metan
Development Group, one of the only Western companies producing
original TV content in China.
Strum also served as Senior Vice President of the William Morris
Agency where he forged new business models utilizing
non-traditional financing for network production.
- Also working with the team is Julia
Franz, former Head of Creative at ABC Studios, who will
serve as a consultant for the new company.
As part of its launch, Platform One Media has acquired the
portfolio of development projects from Slingshot Global Media and
retired the Slingshot brand.
About Platform One Media
Platform One Media is the
Los Angeles-based global
television production and distribution studio formed by TPG
Growth's Evolution Media and Liberty Global, the world's largest
international television and broadband company, as a minority
investor. The independent, start-up studio will curate,
develop, produce, and distribute high-quality scripted programming
for the U.S. and international markets. Veteran television
executive Katie O'Connell Marsh is
CEO and spearheads the company's activities. For
more information, please visit www.platformonemedia.com.
About Evolution Media
Evolution Media (Evolution) is
an investment company that partners with entertainment, media,
sports, and technology companies. Leveraging relationships with its
founding members— TPG Growth, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and
Participant Media—Evolution is uniquely able to identify companies
that will disrupt and shape these industries. Based in Los Angeles, with offices in New York and Beijing, Evolution Media operates at key
global intersections of entertainment and technology. Its portfolio
spans a range of geographies and industries, including virtual
reality companies such as Jaunt and Wevr, gaming platforms such as
Scopely, and leading content providers such as iFlix.
About TPG Growth
TPG Growth is the middle market and
growth equity investment platform of TPG, the global private
investment firm. With over $8.3
billion of assets under management, TPG Growth targets
investments in a broad range of industries and geographies. TPG
Growth has the deep sector knowledge, operational resources, and
global experience to drive value creation, and help companies reach
their full potential. The firm is backed by the resources of TPG,
which has approximately $72 billion
of assets under management. For more information, visit
www.tpggrowth.com.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world's
largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in
more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin
America and the Caribbean.
We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make
the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to
innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered
through next-generation networks that connect our 25 million
customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband
internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million
mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 6 million access
points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the
Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our
European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK,
OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under
the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The
Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint
venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line
subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group
operates in over 20 countries in Latin
America and the Caribbean
under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC.
In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network
throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information,
please visit www.libertyglobal.com.
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