Lionsgate has launched Lionsgate Alternative Television, a division combining the company’s unscripted brands under producer Craig Piligian, who was named the unit’s managing director.

The new division combines the Pilgrim Media Group, eOne, Blackfin, Renegade and Daisybeck Studios unscripted brands.

The move follows Lionsgate’s year-end acquisition of eOne.

“The launch of Lionsgate Alternative Television marks another key milestone in the expansion of our global television footprint,” said Lionsgate Television Group Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Kevin Beggs. “As a major force in the non-scripted programming world, Craig is the perfect executive to take our unscripted operations to the next level.”

Lionsgate also announced that former History Channel leader and Half Yard Productions CEO Dirk Hoogstra is joining the company to lead the eOne U.S. label. 

Piligian is the award-winning producer of shows including American Chopper, Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, The Ultimate Fighter, Ghost Hunters, Top Shot, My Fair Wedding with David Tutera,Fast N Loud, Wicked Tuna and Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s. He was named Broadcasting+Cable’s and Multichannel News’ Producer of the Year in 2016. 

“I am thrilled to announce Lionsgate Alternative Television’s extraordinary management team, comprised of the most influential non-scripted producers working in our industry today,” said Piligian. “In addition, our top-tier creative leadership team will supercharge our business, as Lionsgate becomes one of the largest independent unscripted production companies in the world.”

Reporting into Piligian, and forming the new unit’s management team are Pilgrim Media Group’s President & Chief Operating Officer Gretchen Stockdale and Chief Current Officer & General Manager Nicholas Caprio and Renegade’s leaders, David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe, who will serve as senior sxecutives on the management team.

Reporting into the management team, Lionsgate Alternative Television’s labels will be overseen by creative officers Tom Huffman for Pilgrim, Bob Kusbit for Renegade, Geno McDermott for Blackfin, Matt Pritchard, Matt Walton and Malcolm Gerrie for eOne U.K. and Paul Stead for Daisybeck. 

Lionsgate Alternative Television will also collaborate with the eOne Canada team, led by Jocelyn Hamilton.

Shows produced by the division include  Naked and Afraid, Street Outlaws, Wicked Tuna, The Yorkshire Vet, Ex on the Beach, Selling Sunset and MILF Manor, plus limited series such as Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre.

Mixed martial arts organization UFC will step into the reality competition octagon for a 25th season on April 19, with its competition series The Ultimate Fighter looking to deliver another knockout season of fisticuffs to fight-starved FS1 viewers.

The series, in which up-and-coming MMA competitors live together under one roof while vying against each other in a series of elimination fights — with the winner earning a coveted UFC contract — is credited with exposing the once-fringe Ultimate Fighting Championship to a mainstream audience.

“The show has been instrumental in the success of the UFC and getting us on television,” UFC president Dana White, who also serves as executive producer of The Ultimate Fighter, told Multichannel News. “It’s also created a ton of talent — not only great fighters that have fought in the UFC, but great champions.”

REACHED HEIGHTS FOR FS1
Launched in 2005 on Spike TV and now airing on FS1, The Ultimate Fighter has produced two seasons each year, providing an entry point both for fans curious about the emerging sport and for athletes vying to become household names on the UFC circuit. The series is the most-watched original series in FS1’s history and has spawned an aftershow, TUF Talk, which recaps each installment.

“Not only are viewers tuning into FS1 to follow the series, but their appetite to go even deeper into the fighters and the storylines has been insatiable,” David Nathanson, head of business operations for Fox Sports, said.

But the show wasn’t always a knockout success. In fact, the first season of the series almost never got off the ground. When UFC pitched the concept of The Ultimate Fighter to networks in 2005, UFC was still in its development stages and perceived as a violent, no-holds-barred entity. The only TV exposure for the sport was though its various pay-per-view events. Cable networks weren’t jumping at the chance to put MMA on the air.

“When we first thought about doing The Ultimate Fighter, the first season was really rough to even launch,” Craig Piligian, CEO of TV production company Pilgrim Media Group and executive producer of The Ultimate Fighter, said. “The perception back then of the UFC was that two men enter the ring and only one man leaves: They thought it was a blood sport and that people really died fighting. We really wanted the show to blow away those misconceptions.”

Finally Viacom’s Spike TV, then a men’s-targeted network, decided to offer the UFC a time buy on the channel. Piligian would forfeit his production fees and the UFC ponied up the cash to launch the first season of the show in 2005. “Dana and I flew around the country looking for sponsors for the show and we couldn’t find one — it was a real nightmare,” Piligian recounted. “I never thought it would go more than one season because you just didn’t know if anyone would support it.”

At the time, though, White and Piligian vowed to create an honest reality show that stayed true to the actions of the fighters both inside and outside the octagon.

“We were sort of winging it, but the thing that has kept The Ultimate Fighter so strong is that nothing in it is fake,” White told MCN. “The most contrived part of the show is when I’m standing there and say, ‘Gentlemen, welcome to The Ultimate Fighter.’ Then it’s game on. Everything that happens is spontaneous and real — it is real reality television. There’s nothing scripted on The Ultimate Fighter.”

Added Piligian: “We didn’t Hollywood it — we gave people a brawl, regardless of whether it was a great brawl or a bad brawl.”

The final bout of the first season pitted then-unknowns Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin in an action-packed fight that many observers described as the fight that officially launched the UFC into the mainstream.

“The first season killed it and the rest is history,” said White. “We literally went into the alley behind the arena after the fight and made the deal for the second season of TUF and the UFC.”

Griffin would win the bout and go on to become the UFC’s light heavyweight world champion, one of six fighters from The Ultimate Fighter to eventually wear a championship belt. “The pinnacle moment for me was in 2005 when I won The Ultimate Fighter because I knew at that moment that my life had changed forever,” recalled Griffin, who now serves as vice president of athlete development for the company. “To me, at its heart the show is about finding the best talents that have the potential to be in the UFC and put them under a microscope and see how they deal with the pressure.”

Added White: “TUF, literally, it is our rookie camp. I really get to see who’s who and what’s what — it couldn’t be any more perfect for me to scout talent.”

The Ultimate Fighter would air on Spike TV for six years before moving to FX as part of the groundbreaking, seven-year TV deal UFC reached with Fox Sports in 2011.

In 2013, the show would move to then newly launched national sports network FS1. That move bolstered UFC’s status as a legitimate sport, White said, putting it on the same platform as high-profile, mainstream properties such as Major League Baseball, NASCAR and major college football and basketball games.

“The Ultimate Fighter has been one of the crown jewels of the UFC portfolio, and since we’ve launched Fox Sports 1, it’s been the No. 1 original series on the FS1 network,” Fox’s Nathanson said.

Added White: “The love that Fox has put behind the show in helping us promote it every season has really helped the show’s success. They’ve done a fantastic job.”

During its run, UFC has tinkered with the The Ultimate Fighter’s format to keep the show fresh and entertaining for viewers. The upcoming season, dubbed “Redemption,” will feature fighters who have competed in previous seasons once again vying for a UFC contract. Previous seasons have included casts of all-women fighters, with Ronda Rousey as a coach, as well as the launch of a new weight division, complete with its first champion, UFC executive vice president of operations Craig Borsari said.

“It’s challenging to try to figure out that right balance between changing up the format slightly and finding the right characters to bring to the house while not alienating the viewers that got us here,” Borsari said. “There are times where we’ve pushed the envelope, but for the most part, we’ve figured out how to keep the core format in place with minor tweaks on the fringes, which has helped this show maintain the longevity that it’s had.”

STORYLINES ‘NEVER DISAPPOINT’
Regardless of the format changes, FS1’s Nathanson added, The Ultimate Fighter consistently delivers a power punch for viewers looking for quality, action-packed fights.

“The Ultimate Fighter never disappoints … eventually what gets you every single season is the actual athletes and the storylines that emerge from them,” he said. “Not only are they incredibly compelling fighters, but they are compelling athletes, and the storylines are able to give people a reason to follow them well after the series, particularly if they’re lucky enough to make it into the UFC.”

As for the future, White said he can see the show continuing to thrive and build its next generation of champions as the UFC continues to grow as a sport. “If the sport continues to grow and more fans make their way toward the UFC, I think the TUF will always be relevant.”

Added Piligian: “Never before has a reality unscripted TV show built a sport, and that’s what this one did and will continue to do.”


SIDEBAR: FROM ‘ULTIMATE’ TO PINNACLE
Six UFC athletes who debuted onThe Ultimate Fighterwent on to become UFC champions:

FORREST GRIFFIN, Former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer (won Season 1).

RASHAD EVANS, former UFC light heavyweight champion (won Season 2 as a heavyweight): Evans defeated Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 to capture the UFC light heavyweight championship.

MICHAEL BISPING, current UFC middleweight champion (won Season 3): Bisping, who entered UFC competition in 2006, captured the UFC middleweight title at UFC 199 in June 2016.

MATT SERRA, former UFC welterweight champion (won Season 4): Serra defeated Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69 to capture the welterweight title in what has been described as the greatest upset in UFC history.

T.J. DILLASHAW, former UFC bantamweight champion (appeared on Season 14): Dillashaw, the only fighter on this list who did not win the season in which he competed on the show, lost in the finale to John Dodson, but rebounded to become bantamweight champion at UFC 173.

CARLA ESPARZA, former UFC strawweight champion (won Season 20): In winning the show, Esparza became the global brand’s firstever champion in the newly established weight class.

SOURCE: UFC

READ MORE: Craig Piligian, ‘MCN’ 2016 Producer of the Year

Lionsgate stock was up nearly 12% ($2.32 per share) in early trading Thursday after reporting a better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results, fueled by a global deal for its original series Orange is the New Black and strong revenue from production house Pilgrim Studios.

Lionsgate stock rose as high as $22.08 per share (up $2.32 each) in early trading Thursday, and settled down to close at $21.26 each, up 7.6% per share. For the quarter, television revenue was up 15.6% to a record $669.9 million from $579.5 million, on the OINB deal and strong sales from Pilgrim, which produces such reality fare as Ghost Hunters and Fast and Loud. Lionsgate purchased a 50% interest in Pilgrim in November for an estimated $200 million.

"Our television business had a record year with all categories contributing great results, and we expect its strong growth to continue this year," said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer in a statement.  "Although last year's film slate didn't match the performance of previous years, this year's slate is bigger, more balanced and is expected to generate greater profitability.  We also expect to continue creating long-term value by deepening our portfolio of brands and franchises and solidifying our status as a preferred partner to owners of intellectual property, third-party distributors and digital platforms worldwide."

The TV results helped offset continued softness in its movie studio – the latest installment in the Divergent series, Allegiant and Gods of Egypt, which performed better overseas than in the U.S. On a conference call with analysts, Feltheimer said the company was excited about its 2017 movie slate, which includes a Power Rangers reboot and action sequel John Wick: Chapter Two.

But it was the TV business the held the day, which Feltheimer said now accounts for one-third of total revenue and is poised for further growth.

Feltheimer addressed possible M&A moves on the conference call, adding that Comcast’s recent deal to acquire DreamWorks Animation for about $3.8 billion and Chinese entertainment company Dalian Wanda’s $3.5 billion purchase of Legendary Entertainment point out that the true value in content studios isn’t necessary in revenue or profitability, but in developing franchises and strong brands.

“That’s what we’re working on,” Feltheimer said, adding that Lionsgate is focusing on “developing, acquiring and mining great content and great brands.”

Feltheimer added that Lionsgate and Pilgrim Studios CEO and founder Craig Piligian could team up on small tuck-in acquisitions to help bolster its content offerings.

Lionsgate didn’t mention its interest in premium channel Starz. In February, Lionsgate said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it was interested in starting talks with the channel about a possible combination.  

The merger talks reportedly stalled after Lionsgate’s shares plunged nin the wake of disappointing box office showings for the final installment in the Hunger Games franchise: Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. On the call, vice chairman Michael Burns said while the stock is still down from last year’s highs, that only limits their ability to do all-stock deals. Lionsgate still has a strong balance sheet, which would enable it to do deals that are a mixture of stock and cash.

“We have plenty of capacity to do a lot of deals,” Burns said.

Pilgrim Studios is one of today’s most prolific producers of scripted and non-fiction content, with such hit shows as Step It Up! (Lifetime); Fast N’ Loud (Discovery Channel); The Ultimate Fighter (FS1); and Ghost Hunters (Syfy).

Last month, Pilgrim ventured into the digital arena with the launch of 1620 Media, a new company that will produce short-form series and specials targeted to younger viewers. 1620 has already launched six short-form series featuring episodes ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes in length, and expects to distribute another seven shows before the end of November.

Pilgrim Studios CEO Craig Piligian recently spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about 1620 Media and the strategy behind creating short-form digital programming alongside Pilgrim’s popular long-form linear series. An edited transcript follows.

Next TV:Given the success Pilgrim Studios has had in the long-form arena, why did you decide to delve into short-form programming with 1620 Media?

Craig Piligian: The purpose is threefold. You can’t deny that the digital marketplace is one that you have to be in, even if you can’t monetize it they way you do a traditional cable show. You have to be in the digital space to be noticed.

No. 2, we wanted to show people that we could produce original content in a different way — we’re not just a long-form cable-programming provider, but we can provide content in 15-second, 30-second [or] one-minute intervals and have a clear picture of what kind of content we want to provide.

That being said, it’s also an incubator: We want to look at these shows as potential long-form shows. We’re kind of throwing darts at a dartboard, so we’re launching with five series, and maybe one of those shows will become a long-form series. We are incubating ideas for long-form programming on our own platform.

NTV:Will you look to attract advertisers to the shows?

CP: Yes, we want to attract advertisers to our content, but we also want to have brands come in and look at what we can do in one or two minutes. We don’t just produce long-form programming — we can produce for Budweiser, we can produce for Lincoln cars or Chevy trucks or any one of those brands that are looking to have a production partner for short-form digital content. If brands start producing their own television shows, then we want to be the producers and to let them know that we are in the game.

NTV:Are millennials the target audience for 1620 Media’s short-form programs?

CP: The younger millennials are watching content on their iPads and iWatches and they’re watching it in 15-second to three-minute intervals. We want to try and capture lightning in a bottle. If we get one or two of these short-form videos to be successful and popular with young viewers, we could create our own YouTube stars. You can build these stars and then you can make a long-form series or movie featuring them — there are people out there who get 6 or 7 million hits and become big media stars. We just want to get into the game. Now it’s up to us to hit a home run.

NTV:Will you look to gain access for 1620 Media on other digital distribution platforms such as Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV?

CP: Absolutely. We just want to get noticed. We’re trying to do a variety of different types of content across a different type of platforms.

NTV:How many shows are you looking to ultimately offer on the site?

CP: The sky’s the limit … we want to do as many shows as we can and work with great talent. [Actor] Barry Bostwick is in one of our shows, which is crazy — he’s doing Inside the Extras Studio and he’s the host. We didn’t know that we would get that caliber of talent for our little 1620 Media launch.

NTV:How do you get the word out about 1620 Media and your shows?

CP: Social media is huge part of that, making sure you have a presence there to get people invested in your shows. It’s what we did when we started our own website. We have the biggest social media following for a small, unscripted production company. We organically grew it, and now we’re trying to draft off of our own social following to begin with and then expand from there.

NTV:Will Pilgrim Studios stay aggressive with its long-form projects now that it is creating short-form content through 1620 Media?

CP: Definitely. We have some great new projects across a number of platforms, including syndication and cable, that I can’t talk about yet but eventually we’ll announce.

Wedding and entertainment personality David Tutera has reached a development deal with Pilgrim Studios to develop lifestyle-based projects.

Tutera, who has appeared in several shows including WE TV’s My Fair Wedding and CELEBrations, will work with Pilgrim to develop a variety of unscripted and scripted projects in the lifestyle space and beyond, according to Craig Piligian, Pilgrim Studios’ CEO and president.

Pilgrim and Tutera have already teamed to produce the aforementioned WE TV series, as well as the network’s David Tutera: Unveiled.

 “Pilgrim has been in business with David Tutera for more than seven years, and our relationship has only strengthened with time,” said Piligian in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be working together to build new franchises across both scripted and unscripted genres.”

Added Tutera, “The best part of my job is working so closely with clients during the most important days of their lives, and sharing that experience via the shows we create. Being privy to such happiness, joy, nerves and tears is an honor. I’m excited to develop new realms of programming with Pilgrim that explore and celebrate moments that people remember forever.”