Pearson Television was the British-based television production and distribution arm of a British company

Pearson PLC Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England. It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...

History

In 1994 after a bidding war,

bought the former British

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

franchisee

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

. Then in 1995 it acquired Australian production company

Grundy Television Reg Grundy Organisation (founded as Reg Grundy Enterprises, later known as both Reg Grundy Productions and Grundy Television and known informally as Grundy's) was an Australian-based multinational mass media company, primarily involved in tele ...

. Allied Communications Inc. (ACI), a U.S.-based distributor of made-for-television films, was purchased later that year for $40 million. In 1996, Pearson Television bought the British production company SelecTV PLC, and merged into it. On October 1, 1997, Pearson Television announced that it would launch a $373 million cash tender offer for publicly traded U.S. television company All American Communications Inc. On 5 November, Pearson completed its tender offer, and All American was merged into Pearson Television the following year, while All American Music Group was sold to

Zomba Records The Zomba Group of Companies (sometimes referred to as Zomba Music Group or just Zomba Group) was a music group and division owned by and operated under Sony Music Entertainment. The division was renamed to Jive Label Group in 2009 and was place ...

subsidiary

Volcano Entertainment Volcano Entertainment (sometimes referred to as Volcano Records) was an American all-round music record label founded in 1996 which released albums by Tool, 311, Size 14, Survivor and "Weird Al" Yankovic. (The latter two were former Scotti Bros ...

. This acquisition gave Pearson worldwide rights to various game show formats such as ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...

'' and ''

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

'' as well as drama series in the U.S. such as ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, ...

''. Pearson Television acquired Italian drama production company Mastrofilm on 3 November 1998, and European animation financer and distributor EVA Entertainment on 2 February 1999. In April 2000, Pearson TV announced that it would acquire Smith & Jones' UK production company

Talkback Productions Talkback is a British television production company established in 1981 by comedy duo Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. History Talkback was sold to Pearson Television in 2000. The company merged with Thames Television in 2003 and the combined en ...

. Pearson Television ended in 2001 when they merged its television interests with those of Bertelsmann's CLT-UFA, forming the

RTL Group RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France and ...

. Subsequently, the RTL Group became wholly owned by Bertelsmann as it bought out Pearson's interests and those of CLT. In the following year, Pearson Television was re-branded as FremantleMedia, which subsequently rebranded as simply Fremantle in 2018.

References

External links

* {{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010116025300/http://www.pearsontv.com/, date=Janaury 16, 2001, title=Official website Television syndication distributors Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom Mass media companies established in 1996 Mass media companies disestablished in 2001 Former Bertelsmann subsidiaries RTL Group