Fremantle said it promoted Trey Durst to VP of U.S. distribution, responsible for its international division.

Durst joined the company in 2022 as a director and has negotiated deals that increased the distribution and monetization of Fremantle’s free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels. 

He will continue to report to LIsa Honig, senior executive VP of North American distribution, international.

“Trey’s contributions to Fremantle’s FAST strategy throughout the U.S. have been instrumental in our continued growth, including the formation of landmark partnerships, as well as helping to ideate new channel offerings,” said Honig in a statement. “His solutions driven mentality, combined with his creativity and deep understanding of the market, have been a huge asset to the group overall – this is an exciting next step.”

Fremantle, part of RTL, recently announced a worldwide deal putting 25 FAST channels on Paramount’s Pluto TV in 13 countries. Durst also worked on putting Fremantle FST Channels on Fubo, Sling Freestream and Google TV.

“I look forward to continuing my journey at Fremantle,” said Durst. “It’s exciting to be part of a new sector of Fremantle’s business and to see how much it has grown in recent years. I can’t wait to continue exploring innovative ways to make our iconic IP available via the latest advances in the world of streaming.”

Fremantle said it made a deal with Paramount Global’s Pluto TV to launch 25 free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels across 13 countries.

The channels are based on well-known shows, such as Baywatch, Three’s Company and Family Feud. The deal also includes the launch of an all-new channel, Escape to the Country, in the U.K.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Pluto TV globally, extending Fremantle’s treasured IP to many new territories,” Laura Florence, senior VP, global FAST channels at Fremantle, said. “Pluto TV’s state-of-the-art platform provides a seamless streaming experience for viewers and makes it the perfect home for our channels. This is the next stage of our valued partnership with Pluto TV, as we continue to evolve our FAST strategy and content delivery for our global audience.”

The new channels are being launched in markets including Austria, Spain, Italy, San Marino, Demark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. 

The channels are being curated for their specific markets.

“We are beyond excited to expand the Fremantle content offering on Pluto TV across international markets,” added Katrina Kowalski, senior VP, international content and acquisition for Pluto TV at Paramount. “Pluto TV’s mission to offer lean-back entertainment for fans around the world harnesses the spirit of content like Escape to the Country and Three’s Company, which are perfect for people to gather to watch from the comfort of their living rooms.”

Fremantle said it hired Jeff Boone as VP of scripted development, a new post at the company.

Boone had been VP of development at Bad Wolf. At Fremantle, he will be responsible for developing new series and will play an active role within Fremantle’s global scripted network.

He reports to Jenni Sherwood, Fremantle’s executive VP of scripted programming.

“As our U.S. scripted portfolio continues to grow both domestically and globally, we are excited to have Jeff join our team,” Sherwood said. “Jeff’s experience and impeccable reputation compliments Fremantle’s creative collective of visionary talent who are developing and producing much of the world’s most exciting television.”

Before Bad Wolf, Boone was manager of global scripted development at Entertainment One Television. 

“I’ve long been a fan of Fremantle’s work, and I strongly believe in the team’s vision of embracing strong creative voices to tell bold stories that inspire conversation,” Boone said. “I’m honored to be joining the company.”

Fremantle said it promoted Kimberly Kleid to executive VP of current programming,

Kleid has been senior VP current programming since joining  the company in 2015, overseeing unscripted shows including  Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, To Tell The Truth and Press Your Luck.  

Kleid is also managing the second season of Password, which will premiere on NBC in March.

“Our ever-evolving unscripted portfolio has continued to flourish and expand under her leadership, and I look forward to Kim’s ongoing contributions to Fremantle’s success,” said Jennifer Mullin, CEO at Fremantle. 

Kleid will continue to report to Mullin.

Before joining Fremantle, Kleid was VP of development at NBCUniversal Media. 

“I’m excited to engage in this next chapter in my career at Fremantle,” said Kleid. “The company has afforded me an opportunity to work on some of the biggest brands in television history, while also helping to create and build completely new entertainment properties. I’m proud to be part of this dynamic company.”

Fremantle said it signed a first-look deal with producer Nicholas Weinstock’s Invention Studios.

Weinstock, previously creative head of Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films, is building Invention Studios to create television series and movies with a focus on diversity, originality and boldness. The company said it is currently producing several dozen series and films.

Shows he developed, produced or executive produced include Escape at Dannemora for Showtime, Queenpins for Paramount Plus, Severance on Apple TV Plus and In the Dark for The CW and Netflix.

"Nicky embodies the independent spirit we champion at Fremantle. His creative passion is an inspiration to us and to the artists who work with him. Invention Studios is a welcome addition to the family of leading producers from around the globe who call Fremantle home,” said Dante Do Loreto, president of scripted programming at Fremantle.

Lorenzo De Maio of De Maio Entertainment was instrumental in bringing the deal together, Fremantle said. De Maio Entertainment will be a strategic advisor and partner across Invention’s slate.

Also: Expanding Redbox Adds Three Free Streaming Channels From Fremantle

Fremantle will also support the continued expansion of Weinstock's other creative venture, Craft Services, an online network and support system for emerging writers and directors worldwide.

"I'm thrilled to partner with a company as progressive and expansive as Fremantle on a wide range of television series for both the American and international markets, given their vast global reach and our shared excitement about championing brave voices and authentic storytelling from all over the world,” said Weinstock, CEO of Invention Studios. “CEO Jennifer Mullin and her excellent teams, including Dante and my friend Lorenzo, are ideal partners in Invention's mission to support groundbreaking writers, directors, and narratives of all kinds." ■

Expanding its burgeoning streaming business Redbox has made a deal with Fremantle that will add three free ad-supported channels to its lineup.

Buzzr, The Price Is Right: The Barker Era and the Baywatch channel will start streaming Dec. 1 via Redbox, which now offers more than 120 channels.

Connected TV and free ad-supported streaming television is a growing business and both Redbox and Fremantle intend to cash in.

Redbox, known for its DVD-rental kiosks, has pushed into streaming. It has 5,000 titles for ad supported video-on-demand in addition to a roster of channels that Chris Yates, general manager of Redbox on Demand told Broadcasting+Cable will continue to grow. “We’ll keep expanding. Not indefinitely, but judiciously, with top-tier partners like Fremantle.”

Also: Redbox Completes SPAC IPO, Starts Trading on the Nasdaq Monday

“We have nearly 40 million people who use Redbox every year,” Yates said. “This kind of content is their sweet spot and we’ll be leaning in really heavily to market these channels to our audience.” Redbox will market the channels via email and other touch points, including through the kiosks over time, he said.

Redbox also plans to get into the subscription video on demand channel business, starting with Curiosity Stream.

Fremantle will program and curate the three new free channels. Redbox will oversee monetization of the channels. The two companies have a revenue sharing arrangement.

“Their success is our success and that’s how we like to work with our partners,” said Mark Deetjen, executive VP of global channels at Fremantle. 

Buzzr started as a digital over-the-air channel featuring classic games shows including Match Game, Family Feud, To Tell the Truth, Password and Card Sharks. Redbox will be streaming a mirror image of the over-the-air channel, Deetjen said. 

There is a Price Is Right The Barker Channel that has been streaming exclusively on ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV. That exclusivity runs out Dec. 1, when it will  start on Redbox also. The channel features episodes going back to the ’80s, featuring classic minigames that have been retired from the current version of the show. The channel will also have quarterly stunts featuring people hitting the $1 while spinning the big wheel on the Showcase Showdown or holiday-themed episodes.

Fremantle has Baywatch channels on a number of streaming platforms including, Samsung and Vizio.

“This is a channel that Fremantle is running ourselves, rather than just licensing content to the platform and allowing them to string episodes together as they see fit,” Deetjen said. Fremantle has created promos, interstitials and other extras for Redbox that other Baywatch channels don’t have.

“We’re using those classic TV programming techniques to prolong engagement,” he said. “They make a channel feel like a channel.”

Redbox is happy to have Fremantle curate the channel,” Yates said.

“Fremantle knows its content, its programming better than anyone. We wouldn’t want to get in the way of that,” Yates said. These are the first channels from Fremantle on Redbox. “Hopefully the first of many,” he said.

Redbox last week announced that it had retained Whistle Group’s Palomino Media Group for direct ad sales. “We’re confident monetization is going to be really successful for these channels.

For Fremantle, streaming represents a growth area. Buzzr has been available over the year for about seven years, but since it started streaming, its reach has grown by over 50%. 

“We are reaching an enormous number of people via this platforms and it just keeps growing,” Deejen said.

“We’re in the early stages of the FAST era,” Deetjen said, noting the success companies including Redbox have been having.

“There will be a point of diminishing returns,” he said. “There will be a point at which there will be platforms that can’t be sustained from a revenue perspective. We wouldn’t have done a deal with Redbox if we thought that they were one of them.”

About five months after a proxy battle that ousted its management and revamped its board of directors, home shopping giant ValueVision Media has changed its name to Evine Live, in an effort to better reflect its transformation into a comprehensive digital commerce company.

ValueVision made the announcement in conjunction with releasing with its third quarter earnings results on Nov. 18. As part of the transition, the company changed its trading symbol on the NASDAQ Exchange from VVTV to EVLV on Nov. 20.

The company said the name change is part of the ongoing effort to transform Evine Live into a true digital commerce company.

After years of sluggish performance, ValueVision Media emerged in June from a proxy fight that saw it jettison its top management and most of its board in favor of a slate of directors with varied and vast experience in retail, television production and cable. CEO Mark Bozek, a 20-year veteran of the home-shopping wars — he started as an executive at QVC in 1994 — and a former CEO of HSN, joined a slate of high-profile directors put forth by activist investor The Clinton Group to shake up the company.  

According to a company statement, the "Es" that bookend the Evine Live brand represent the ease, exclusivity and energy of what it calls a new entertaining consumer experience. The inclusion of the word "Live" is about real-time impulses to act and interact on all digital platforms.

ValueVision acquired the Evine brand as part of a $1 million stock deal to acquire Dollars Per Minute, a Huntington, N.Y. based merchandising and entertainment company created by Bozek and Russell Nuce. Evine said it has named Nuce as its new chief strategy officer.

According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Nuce will receive annual compensation of about $375,000, a signing bonus of $75,000 and a one-time bonus of $176,000. Bozek receives total annual compensation of about $1.3 million.

As part of the Dollars Per Minute transaction, former ValueVision independent board member Thom Beers, CEO of FremantleMedia North America, received stock worth $532,867 as payment for certain convertible bridge notes he held in the company.

“As a result of the consummation of the transaction, the company’s board of directors has determined that Mr. Beers will no longer serve as an independent director,” Evine said in an SEC filing, “…and at this time, will no longer be a member of the company’s corporate governance and nominating committee.”

The rebranding is in line with what The Clinton Group had promised during their fight for control of ValueVision -- transforming what has been a distant third in the homme shopping wars (behnd QVC Group and HSN) into a modern, streamlined and nimble competitor.

"On the heels of a solid third quarter, we strongly believe definitive change and innovation are necessary to build on our recent momentum and drive the company to the next level," Bozek said in a statement. "We believe that fully embracing this new transformation will enable Evine Live to forge new paths and new relationships that allow us to be far more competitive, far more creative, and far more disruptive on all our platforms. Evine Live has the opportunity to be fearless in our strategies to transform the worlds of retail and entertainment while, at the same time, driving greater consumer engagement."

The company expects to transition from doing business as "ShopHQ" to "Evine Live" over the coming months, with the complete rebranding planned to take place first half of 2015. In the coming months, the company intends to introduce new proprietary brands from the worlds of fashion, beauty, jewelry, home and fitness.

"The new approach should enable us to build a stronger foundation for long-term growth," Bozek added in a statement.