The following was issued by WWE.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. : FremantleMedia Enterprises Gets into the Ring With WWE®
Major Distribution Agreement Announced
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) today announced a major new distribution agreement with WWE (NYSE:WWE) for the exclusive home entertainment rights to WWE’s catalogue of programming across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The deal goes into effect in January of 2013 and will see FME manage the DVD, Blu-ray and digital rights for all new and existing WWE content, making it the first time that fans of WWE’s popular programming can access it digitally across EMEA. Some of the new titles that will be released include Night of Champions 2012, Hell in a Cell 2012, Top 100 Raw Moments, Attitude Era and WrestleMania 29.
WWE is a recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 600 million homes worldwide.
Pete Kalhan, SVP Home Entertainment & Archive EMEA, FME, commented, “WWE is an incredibly strong and ever-growing brand with a huge and extremely dedicated global fan base. The brand has a rich history and has performed exceptionally well on DVD for many years. We look forward to working with WWE to grow all aspects of their home entertainment catalogue and are particularly excited about introducing the content to the masses across EMEA via digital platforms.”
“WWE is pleased to partner with FremantleMedia Enterprises on the digital and retail distribution of our content in EMEA,” said Casey Collins, Executive Vice President, Consumer Products for WWE. “FME’s broad retail reach will allow us to place more WWE content across all channels where our fans shop.”
ABOUT FREMANTLEMEDIA ENTERPRISES & FREMANTLEMEDIA
FremantleMedia is one of the leading creators and producers of television entertainment brands in the world. FremantleMedia is part of RTL Group, the leading European entertainment network, which is in turn 92 percent owned by the international media company Bertelsmann. FremantleMedia’s worldwide production arm is responsible for many of the world’s highest rated prime time entertainment, drama, serial drama and factual entertainment programmes. FremantleMedia Enterprises is the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, offering a one-stop-shop for all Licensing, Distribution and Home Entertainment around the world. The FremantleMedia Group (which includes FremantleMedia North America, UFA, FremantleMedia UK, FremantleMedia Australia, Ludia, @radical.media and Original Productions, amongst others) has operations in 22 countries, one of the most comprehensive global networks, creating over 9,200 hours of programming a year, rolling out more than 60 formats and managing over 300 individual titles. FremantleMedia has some of the world’s most sought after and long running formats in its catalogue, and globally, produces such programmes as: Idols (co-produced with 19 Productions in the US), Hole In The Wall, Got Talent (co-produced with Syco in the UK and the US), The X Factor (co-produced with Syco in the UK and the US), Take Me Out, Family Feud, The Price is Right, Farmer Wants A Wife, Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten, and Neighbours.
www.fremantlemedia.com
ABOUT WWE
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 600 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Istanbul and Tokyo.
Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/.