VCNI is acquiring the shares in Ananey it does not already own, following its acquisition of a minority stake in the company in December 2016.
Ananey’s founder and chairman, Udi Miron, will stay on in a new role as special adviser to Ananey and will also act as general partner of a newly formed venture capital fund, Gazella—New Media Experience, that he and VCNI will jointly invest in. The fund will focus its investment in Israeli media and technology-related businesses.
Ananey will now be consolidated into ViacomCBS’s international business, with its CEO, Orly Atlas-Katz, reporting to Maria Kyriacou, president of VCNI’s operations across Australia, Israel and the U.K.
David Lynn, president and CEO, VCNI, commented: “This deal is a logical next step to cement and enhance the long-standing and valuable partnership we have with Ananey and to secure and scale our position in the Israeli market. Ananey is a well-established and successful producer of local and global content and it is a strong fit with the rest of our international networks and studios business. I’m excited by the potential to scale its ideas and formats, to exploit its content pipeline and library and to tap into its production expertise for our TV networks and streaming services in other territories.”
Atlas-Katz added: “This is an exciting day for me personally, but even more so professionally, as one who represents a large group of individuals dedicated to the production of high-quality content and first-rate productions. I am proud that ViacomCBS has acknowledged this talent, and thrilled at the prospect of deepening this partnership and becoming an official part of a wonderful family, home to some of the most successful shows and formats in the world. This a vote of confidence on behalf of ViacomCBS, not only in us as a company, but also in Israeli content and creators. I’m positive that this a giant step forward for the local market and a boost to its ability to distribute content outside Israeli borders.”
Miron said: “We’ve been working for a long time to expand Ananey’s horizons beyond the Israeli market and have made good progress in building an international business – becoming part of ViacomCBS will now accelerate our efforts to establish Ananey as a globally significant player in the international content market. This acquisition is recognition of Ananey’s entrepreneurship and creative capacities, together with its ability to assist VCNI in the development of international productions and technology-based content.
“The ‘Gazella – New Media Experience’ fund will bring fresh investment to the Israeli market, specifically to companies using technology to create new forms of content. As for myself, the role as general partner in this new fund marks the next step in my long and fascinating journey through the Israeli field of broadcast and production.”
Ananey is a long-standing commercial partner for VCNI in Israel, where it owns and operates six local pay-TV channels for which it produces a broad range of youth, children’s, lifestyle and entertainment content. Ananey also manages and operates under licence local versions of VCNI’s flagship pay-TV brands, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, and Comedy Central as well as representing an additional seven VCNI channels for affiliate sales in Israel. As well as producing content for its own and VCNI’s channels in Israel, Ananey also produces for third parties both in Israel and internationally. Its hit teen drama, Greenhouse Academy, has been renewed for a fourth global season on Netflix. The series is based on the Hebrew-language series The Greenhouse that ran for four seasons exclusively on Nick Israel, and in 2013 Nickelodeon UK picked up an English-dubbed version of it.
Nickelodeon's hit The Greenhouse, of which the cast recently returned to make a coronavirus-themed miniseries. Nickelodeon International and Nutz Productions — the subsidiary production arm of Ananey - recently partnered for a new drama series Spyders, which will premiere on Nickelodeon channels and programming blocks globally throughout the year.
The company has also been growing its slate rapidly, lining up the tween drama Rising (50 x 22 minutes), which debuted on TeenNick earlier this month. It’s other tween-skewing series The Hood (150 x 22 minutes) and Spell Keepers (150 x 22 minutes), also air on Teen Nick.
The studio also produces live-action shows for kids and preschoolers, and one of its more popular series is the unscripted children’s show Craft Party that airs on Nick Jr. Israel, which CBBC commissioned a UK version of to be made by London-based Keshet Productions.
Ananey’s new series Sky (40 x 22 minutes) comes from Greenhouse Academy creator Giora Chamizer, and is a tween drama debuting on Teen Nick about an alien who crash-lands on earth and has to avoid detection, while pretending to be the most popular (and meanest) girl in school.
The transaction was carried out on Ananey’s behalf by KPMG Israel.
"Ananey is a well-established and successful producer of local and global content and it is a strong fit with the rest of our international networks and studios business," David Lynn, president and CEO of VCNI, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement on the rationale for the deal.
Lynn oversees Viacom's media networks and related businesses outside the U.S., and reports to ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish, a former CEO of VIMN.
From The Jerusalem Post:
ViacomCBS acquires Israeli TV company Ananey
ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI), a division of ViacomCBS Inc., announced Monday that it had acquired Ananey Communications Group, a leading Israeli content producer and pay television channel provider. VCNI is acquiring the shares in Ananey it does not already own, following its acquisition of a minority stake in the company in December 2016.
Ananey’s founder and chairman, Udi Miron, will stay on in a new role as special advisor to Ananey. Ananey’s CEO, Orly Atlas-Katz will be reporting to Maria Kyriacou, president of VCNI’s operations across Australia, Israel and the UK, now that Ananey will be consolidated into VCNI.
Ananey Communications Group, one of Israel’s largest media companies, was founded by Miron in 1996 and quickly became the leading multichannel television group in Israel, with 11 original channels and exclusive operation of ViacomCBS brands in Israel, including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TeenNick and Nick Jr. Ananey's channels reach four in every five Israeli households.
Among the many series created by Ananey and its subsidiary, Nutz Productions, are the Netflix series, Greenhouse Academy, which has been renewed for a fourth season, and the Hebrew-language series on which it was based, Ha Hamama. Other recent series from Ananey include Rising, about teenagers in the Palmach fighting force just before the War of Independence, and Spyders, a show about teens who join their parents in a spy organization that protects the environment.
Atlas-Katz said: "This a vote of confidence on behalf of ViacomCBS, not only in us as a company, but also in Israeli content and creators. I'm positive that this a giant step forward for the local market and a boost to its ability to distribute content outside Israeli borders."
Miron added: “We’ve been working for a long time to expand Ananey’s horizons beyond the Israeli market and have made good progress in building an international business – becoming part of ViacomCBS will now accelerate our efforts to establish Ananey as a globally significant player in the international content market.”
Miron will also become a general partner of a newly formed venture capital fund, Gazella – New Media Experience, that he and VCNI will jointly invest in. The fund will focus its investment in Israeli media and technology businesses.
David Lynn, president and CEO of VCNI, commented: “This deal is a logical next step to cement and enhance the long-standing and valuable partnership we have with Ananey and to secure and scale our position in the Israeli market.”
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More Nick: Nickelodeon Israel Orders New Drama 'Ziggy'!
Sources: World Screen, Broadband TV News; Additional sources: Realscreen, Deadline, Kidscreen.
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