BBC Studios To Exit All3Media Joint Venture Tower Productions In Germany

BBC Studios is exiting Tower Productions, its decade-old joint venture production company with All3Media in Germany, and is establishing BBC Studios Germany.

BBC Studios and All3Media will part ways at the end of the year, but will not sever ties completely. Tower Productions will continue to make Das Große Backen, Sat.1’s German version of The Great British Bake Off, as part of a “multi-year” co-production arrangement.

BBC Studios and All3Media are positioning the split as amicable, with the former making a strategic decision to go it alone following the evolution of BBC Worldwide to BBC Studios, which merged distribution with production.

BBC Studios Germany Productions will be led by Philipp Schmid, managing director of BBC Studios Germany, and the company has made a number of hires to cement its new status in the market.

ZDF Digital’s Markus Templin joins next month as head of entertainment, while Carsten Coenen will become head of production after a spell at Warner Brothers International Television Production. Existing executives, commercial chief Karolin Engl-Lubba and scripted exec Lea Gamula, will also form part of the new venture.

Jacob DeBoer, BBC Studios’ SVP of international production and formats, said All3Media had been a “very strong partner for us in Germany” and he is now looking ahead to “the next stage of BBC Studios‘ evolution” in the market.

All3Media Germany CEO Markus Schäfer added: “Our partnership with BBC Studios over the past ten years has been incredibly successful. Both companies worked together to turn various formats into long-running ratings hits and significantly expanded them. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for this. I am sure All3Media and BBC Studios will work together on exciting projects again in the future.”

Tower Productions makes German versions of shows including Undercover Boss, Gogglebox and Naked Attraction.

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