Broadcaster Modern Times Group has acquired British distributor DRG for an undisclosed sum.
As part of the acquisition, Jeremy Fox [pictured] returns to the distributor as chief executive with immediate effect while DRG group managing director Jonathan Jackson will leave the business.
The rest of the management team, including senior vice president of sales Patrick Roberts, managing director of acquisitions and formats Andrea Jackson and Anke Stoll, head of scripted acquisitions and development, will remain at the business.
The deal for The Inbetweeners, Doc Martin and Catch Phrase distributor is believed to be worth around £18m, as first reported by Broadcast last month. MTG, which operates the Viasat portfolio of channels, is thought to have beaten Sky to the acquisition, with the News Corp-backed company thought to have bid around £12m.
MTG executive vice-president of content Patrick Svensk said last year that the firm planned to make acquisitions following its purchase of Central and Eastern European producer Paprika Latino. He said the UK was one of its priority markets, with a focus on small- to medium-sized firms.
Svensk said: “MTG Studios’ acquisition of DRG will allow DRG to do what it already does brilliantly, even better. Independence is at the core of DRG’s operation and it will be business as usual at DRG, except that the company will have greater firepower, fully resourced to invest in and support the independent production sector.”
This story was first published on Broadcast.
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