Sphere Media To Buy ‘Leaving Neverland’ Seller Abacus Media Rights For $18.6M
26.06.2024 - 11:53
/ deadline.com
Canada’s Sphere Media has acquired Abacus Media Rights, the UK-based distributor that sells Leaving Neverland and Scrublands.
Sphere is partnering with Canadian broadcaster Bell Media on the deal with current owner Amcomri Entertainment. Bell owns a sizeable stake in Sort Of producer Sphere following an investment last year.
The Abacus deal will costs a total of C$24.6M ($18.6M), comprising C$18.3M in cash and the rest in the assumption of loans. The deal, which became binding today, is subject to approval and expected to close in mid-August.
Once it closes, Abacus operate under the name Sphere Abacus Media Rights. Abacus’ sales and acquisitions team will remain based in the UK and continue to report to founder and Managing Director Jonathan Ford, who will in turn join the Sphere Media executive team and report to Sphere Media CEO Bruno Dubé.
Abacus is best known as the distributor of HBO and Channel 4’s Michael Jackson doc Leaving Neverland, which is from Dan Reed’s Amos Pictures. It has a large unscripted catalog including truck crime titles such as My Lover My Killer and the upcoming David Suchet series Travels With Agatha that we recently told you about first. It has also pushed into drama through the likes of Australian drama Scrublands and Sort Of, Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo’s LGBT comedy-drama that Sphere made for CBC.
Dubé said that after building out Sphere’s production business in Canada and internationally, it had been “looking for a strategic partner that mirrors and complements this quality both in terms of slate and reputation.
“Now to be teaming up with Abacus Media Rights and its enviable range of partners, we look forward to exploring all the collaborations and creative enterprise possible to push
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