Television
September 28, 2011
Warner Bros. International Television Production Acquires Majority Stake In BlazHoffski Holding B.V.
(September 28, 2011 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands; London, UK; and Burbank, CA) – Warner Bros. International Television Production today announced that it has acquired a majority stake in BlazHoffski Holding B.V., a leading independent television producer in The Netherlands and Belgium, in a deal which will also see the studio distribute BlazHoffski’s formats and finished product internationally. The announcement was made today by Ronald Goes, Executive Vice President and Head of Warner Bros. International Television Production and Taco Ketelaar, CEO BlazHoffski Holding.
Founded in 1996 by Dan Blazer and Erik van der Hoff, BlazHoffski specialises in the creation of high quality, non-scripted entertainment and reality programming for the major television channels in The Netherlands and Belgium, and is responsible for productions including internationally-acclaimed reality show “Hello Goodbye,” “Figure It Out,” "Intensive Caring," award-winning comedy “Tower C” and “CIA” – created by Dahl TV, a company acquired by BlazHoffski Holding B.V. last year.
Warner Bros. aims to establish operating production companies in major territories around the world and to become a leading local producer of scripted and non-scripted programming. Following Shed Media in the UK, the acquisition of a majority stake in BlazHoffski marks the next step in this strategic growth initiative.
Ronald Goes, Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. International Television Production said, “Our objective is to partner with the best possible talent in each key market. BlazHoffski has a strong creative and commercial track record, an excellent management team and outstanding broadcaster relationships. I am certain that, as part of Warner Bros., BlazHoffski will continue do more of what they do best – create and produce high quality content that can become franchises and be exported to create local versions in other markets around the world.”
Taco Ketelaar, CEO, BlazHoffski, said, "The international appetite for our formats and talent pool has been growing rapidly and the strategic fit with Warner Bros. could not be better in helping us to broaden the roll-out and enhance the international footprint of our properties and to further our growth."
Dan Blazer, Creative Director and Co-Founder, BlazHoffski, said, "This is a dream come true to be a part of the Warner Bros. family. We are very excited about this deal which we believe will open up new opportunities for our business, both creatively and by providing access to Warner Bros. worldwide distribution and creative network. Together, we will create a powerful partnership, benefiting both from our own business here in the Netherlands and Belgium and also helping us to offer our programming to other international broadcasters.”###