Banijay Entertainment
Multinational media conglomerate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banijay Entertainment UK Ltd. is a British multinational television production and distribution conglomerate operated as a 50-50 joint venture between French sports betting and entertainment company Banijay Group and US-based RedBird IMI, itself a joint venture of American private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Emirati media investment company International Media Investments. It was formed in 2026 from the merger of the first and second incarnation of Banijay's television production and distribution arm and RedBird IMI's All3Media business.
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| Banijay Entertainment | |
| Type | Joint venture |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | 9 July 2026 |
| Headquarters | , England |
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| Owners |
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| Subsidiaries | See § Assets |
| Website | www |
Reports of a merger emerged in January 2026, and was later announced in March, before completing in July. The company is led by chief executive officer (CEO) Marco Bassetti, formerly CEO of the original Paris-based Banijay Entertainment; and chairman Jeff Zucker, a RedBird IMI executive who chaired All3Media following its 2024 sale. It is headquartered in London, England, where All3Media was based. At the time of the merger, the combined company operated in 25 countries, with a library spanning over 265,000 hours of content.[2]
History
On 13 January 2026, the Banijay Group confirmed reports earlier that month that it was in talks with RedBird IMI to merge their respective Banijay Entertainment and All3Media television production businesses.[3][4] A merger agreement, also encompassing Banijay's live events business, was announced on 3 March 2026, with the Banijay Group and RedBird IMI confirmed to hold 50% in the combined business, which would be called Banijay Entertainment.[5] The deal closed on 9 July, with the new company, consolidated under Banijay Group, being headquartered at All3Media's London headquarters.[2]
In late-April 2026, Banijay Media Germany subsidiary Innovation Media established a new entertainment, sport and live event streaming platform called ShowdownTV, the new streaming channel became available on streaming platforms such as Apple TV and Android TV, and will show content from the fields of sports, live events and entertainment from Banijay's portfolio, such as reality talkshow Nightfever, TV total Promi Wrestling, Das große Promi-Boxen and The Ultimate HypeBanijay along with the 7th season of the martial arts event series Ringlife Combat.[6][7]
On 15 July 2026, Banijay Entertainment set up a bidding war to buy Lionsgate Studios along with the Paris-based Mediawan and Tokyo-based CyberAgent. Bolloré was thought to have also bid for the company, but confirmed that it wasn't bidding as per earlier reports.[8] On 29 July 2026, Banijay dropped out of the bidding war.[9][10]
Programmes
Banijay Entertainment has several brands of television programmes and formats aimed at different demographics. Some of its better-known programmes and formats produced by its many subsidiaries (past and present) are:
- 1 vs 100
- 100%
- Aarya
- The All New Monty
- All Together Now
- Anything Goes
- Banged Up Abroad
- Beat Bugs
- Beauty and the Geek
- Best Bakery
- Beforeigners
- Big Bounce Battle
- Big Brother
- The Big Music Quiz
- Bigg Boss
- The Biggest Loser
- Black Mirror
- The Brokenwood Mysteries
- Cash Cab
- Call the Midwife
- Capital
- The Circle
- The Cube
- The Bridge
- The Courtship
- Deadly Women
- Deal or No Deal
- Domina
- Domino Challenge
- Domino Day
- Don't Forget the Lyrics
- Drag Race France
- Drag Race France All Stars
- Fear Factor
- Feel Good
- Fifth Gear
- Fleabag
- The Fifty
- Fort Boyard
- Four in a Bed
- Free Rein
- Fresh Meat
- The Gadget Show
- Geordie Shore
- Gogglebox
- Gold Rush
- Good Luck Guys
- Got to Dance
- Grantchester
- Great British Menu
- Hands Off Chef
- History Detectives
- Hollyoaks
- Homes Under the Hammer
- Horrible Histories
- How to Look Good Naked
- Hunted
- Identity
- The Island with Bear Grylls
- It's a Knockout
- It's Only TV
- Joe Millionaire
- Junk Food Flip
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians
- Kitchen Impossible
- Language of Love
- The Legacy
- LEGO Masters
- Limitless Win
- Lingo
- Lost in Oz
- Love It or List It
- Love Triangle
- Marie Antoinette
- MasterChef
- Max Headroom
- Midsomer Murders
- Minute to Win It
- Motown Magic
- Mr. Bean
- MTV Roadies
- MythBusters
- Ninja Warrior
- Once Upon a Time...
- Operation Ouch!
- Paddington Green
- Party Workers
- Peep Show
- Pointless
- Popstars
- Quizmaster
- Race Across the World
- Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
- SAS: Rogue Heroes
- Secret Story
- Sexy Beasts
- Shameless (British TV series)
- Shortland Street
- Simon's Cat
- Sing If You Can
- Skins (British TV series)
- Sort Your Life Out
- Sounds The Same
- Spot On!
- Star Academy
- Starstruck
- Strike!
- Survivor
- Tamasha
- The Gold
- The Money Drop
- The Missing
- The Only Way Is Essex
- The Summitt
- The Traitors
- The White Queen
- Three Little Birds
- Toast of London
- Totally Spies!
- Treasure Hunt
- Undercover Boss
- Undressed
- The Wall
- Watch Your Step
- Wipeout
- Would I Lie to You?
- The Write Offs
- Your Face Sounds Familiar
- Yo Soy (Perú)
Assets
Assets owned by Banijay Entertainment include:[11]
| Region/Country | Units |
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| France |
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| Germany |
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| Austria |
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| Israel |
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| Italy |
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| Benelux | |
| Nordic countries |
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| Spain and Portugal |
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| United Kingdom |
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| United States |
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| Latin America |
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| Australia and New Zealand |
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| Asia |
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| Other countries |
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| International |
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| Former/Defunct |
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