Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has approved the creation of a joint venture between Banijay and All3Media in the production of audiovisual content, concluding that the transaction is unlikely to significantly impede competition in the German market.
The joint venture brings together two of the country’s largest independent television production groups. Banijay, through subsidiaries including EndemolShine Germany and Brainpool TV, produces formats such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, TV total, The Masked Singer, Die Höhle der Löwen and Big Brother. All3Media, owned by RedBird Capital Partners, operates production companies including Filmpool Entertainment, whose credits include Berlin – Tag & Nacht, Judge Barbara Salesch, The Traitors, Undercover Boss and Auf Streife.
“In Germany, the joint venture will be the largest producer of general TV content for third parties by volume and will be particularly strongly positioned in shows and reality formats,” said Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office. “However, it will face only a small number of large broadcasting groups as customers, namely RTL, ProSiebenSat.1, ARD and ZDF, all of which are also capable of producing content through their own subsidiaries.”
The regulator found that the two companies have largely complementary strengths. While Banijay has a strong presence in prime-time programming, All3Media is more active in access prime-time and daytime productions.
The authority also noted that Germany’s leading broadcasters maintain substantial in-house production capabilities. Examples include ProSiebenSat.1’s production of Germany’s Next Topmodel and The Taste, and RTL’s production of Deutschland sucht den Superstar and Bauer sucht Frau. ARD and ZDF likewise produce a significant proportion of their content internally.
Independent competitors remain active in the market, including ITV Studios with I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and The Voice of Germany, Seapoint Productions with Let’s Dance, Warner Bros. ITVP Germany with The Bachelor, Leonine Studios with Klein gegen Groß and Constantin Entertainment with Shopping Queen.
The Federal Cartel Office approved the transaction during its initial review phase, based on findings from previous investigations into the television production sector, current market data and consultations with industry participants. According to the authority, the merger is not expected to result in a substantial restriction of competition.
The transaction has also been reviewed and approved in Austria and has been notified or filed in several other jurisdictions.
