Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Fort Worth, Texas – July 17, 2017 – TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity platform of alternative asset firm TPG, and Liberty Global, the world’s largest international television and broadband company, today announced the launch of a global television production and distribution studio—Platform One Media.
TPG Growth will fund their investment through Evolution Media, an investment partnership with CAA and Participant Media. Liberty Global will initially be taking a minority equity stake in the business, attributed to Liberty Global Group. Additional terms of the investment were not disclosed.
The independent, start-up studio will curate, develop, produce, and distribute high-quality scripted programming for the U.S. and international markets. Veteran television executive Katie O’Connell Marsh, former CEO of Gaumont Television, has been appointed CEO and will be spearheading the company’s activities.
“TPG Growth has a history of identifying and building companies, such as STX Entertainment, that can redefine their categories,” said Bill McGlashan, Founder and Managing Partner of TPG Growth and Co-Founder and CEO of The Rise Fund. “Working with our partners at Evolution Media, we look forward to leveraging our collective experiences and networks in the entertainment space to build this business with Katie and her team.”
"Platform One Media has the key ingredients Liberty Global values in a strategic asset: great leadership, a clear vision and aligned, well capitalized partners,” said Bruce Mann, Chief Programming Officer at Liberty Global. “It also gives us the opportunity to work with world-class talent creating high-quality scripted programming which could potentially feature on Liberty Global’s pay-TV platforms in Europe. We are fortunate to have Katie O'Connell Marsh bringing her vision, drive and creative track record, and to be working with TPG Growth, who we view as a natural strategic partner.”
“The explosion of original content globally is creating an opportunity for new, innovative, and diverse ways to engage audiences beyond the series itself,” said O’Connell Marsh. “With Platform One Media, and our partners TPG Growth and Liberty Global, we are perfectly positioned to develop and distribute compelling narratives that are artistic, meaningful and addictive by working closely with innovative, inspiring talent to bring to life their creative visions.”
For the past 20 years, Katie O’Connell Marsh has held senior management positions covering all aspects of entertainment television programming. O’Connell Marsh spent five years as CEO at Gaumont Television, where she was responsible for launching the studio operation from the ground up in October 2010. While there, she developed and produced leading drama series, including the acclaimed NBC series Hannibal, the Golden Globe-nominated Netflix series Narcos, and Hemlock Grove for Netflix. On the comedy front, she developed F is for Family for Netflix and Gaumont, as well as the Emmy-winning 30 Rock while at NBC and the Emmy-winning Arrested Development during her tenure at Imagine.
Most recently, O’Connell Marsh was Head of Global Live Action Television for Dreamworks Animation where she was tasked with launching the live action television operation for the company. In 2015, O’Connell Marsh was recognized in Variety’s Women’s Impact Report, and in 2014, she was recognized in The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 100 Power Women in Entertainment.
Additional appointments to the Platform One Media executive team include:
- Courtney Conte, who most recently served as President of Slingshot Global Media, will be Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President. Conte previously served as COO of BBC Worldwide Productions and Co-President of Carsey-Werner. He has developed and produced numerous television series for Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, UPN, The WB, BBC, HBO, Showtime, Nickelodeon and Lifetime.
- Elisa Ellis, who most recently served as the Head of Creative for the Live Action Television division of Dreamworks Animation, will be joining as Chief Creative Officer. Before joining Dreamworks in 2016, Ellis was President of Creative Affairs & Production for Gaumont Television. At Gaumont, she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s series development and production including Hannibaland Narcos.
- Erik Pack will join Platform One Media as Head of Distribution & Co-Production based in London. Pack most recently served as President of International Distribution & Co-production at Gaumont Television. Prior to that, Pack was Executive Vice President of International Sales and Co-Productions at Power, a London-based production and distribution company. Previously, Pack was at Hallmark Entertainment for 12 years, where he structured output deals across Europe and Latin America.
- Neil Strum, who most recently served asHead of Business and Legal Affairsfor Slingshot Global Media, will take on the same position at Platform One Media. Prior to Slingshot, he served as Executive Vice President at Metan Development Group, one of the only Western companies producing original TV content in China.Strum also served as Senior Vice President of the William Morris Agency where he forged new business models utilizing non-traditional financing for network production.
- Also working with the team is Julia Franz, former Head of Creative at ABC Studios, who will serve as a consultant for the new company.
As part of its launch, Platform One Media has acquired the portfolio of development projects from Slingshot Global Media and retired the Slingshot brand.
About Platform One Media
Platform One Media is the Los Angeles-based global television production and distribution studio formed by TPG Growth’s Evolution Media and Liberty Global, the world’s largest international television and broadband company, as a minority investor. The independent, start-up studio will curate, develop, produce, and distribute high-quality scripted programming for the U.S. and international markets. Veteran television executive Katie O’Connell Marsh is CEO and spearheads the company’s activities. For more information, please visit www.platformonemedia.com.
About Evolution Media
Evolution Media (Evolution) is an investment company that partners with entertainment, media, sports, and technology companies. Leveraging relationships with its founding members— TPG Growth, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Participant Media—Evolution is uniquely able to identify companies that will disrupt and shape these industries. Based in Los Angeles, with offices in New York and Beijing, Evolution Media operates at key global intersections of entertainment and technology. Its portfolio spans a range of geographies and industries, including virtual reality companies such as Jaunt and Wevr, gaming platforms such as Scopely, and leading content providers such as iFlix.
About TPG Growth
TPG Growth is the middle market and growth equity investment platform of TPG, the global private investment firm. With over $8.3 billion of assets under management, TPG Growth targets investments in a broad range of industries and geographies. TPG Growth has the deep sector knowledge, operational resources, and global experience to drive value creation, and help companies reach their full potential. The firm is backed by the resources of TPG, which has approximately $72 billion of assets under management. For more information, visit www.tpggrowth.com.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world’s largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 6 million access points.
Liberty Global’s businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com.
