Reality TV giant FremantleMedia has signed an exclusive joint venture with two subsidiaries of Shanghai Media Group to develop and create entertainment formats for the Chinese market. China Media Capital will back the joint venture.
Fremantle, producer of such shows as The X Factor and American Idol, will develop formats for Shanghai Media Group's Dragon TV and BesTV platforms, which reach millions of viewers on the Chinese mainland.
Fremantle also will handle world sales outside of China for all original formats developed under the agreement.
The group will set up a development team in Shanghai to create formats for the venture.
"The Chinese television market is rapidly becoming one of the most important in the world," said Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Global CEO of FremantleMedia, noting that the deal allows Fremantle "to build on its existing presence in China and strengthen our ties in this territory."
Wang Jianjun, president of Shanghai Media Group, said the company's goal was to build BesTV into "a new media conglomerate [and] China's foremost OTT service provider" and that the deal with Fremantle was in developing original content for the platform.
"This is a groundbreaking deal," said Ian Hogg, CEO of FremantleMedia Asia Pacific, whose team oversaw the agreement. "The opportunity to create and execute storytelling that focuses on Chinese values and tastes blended with Western structure and creativity is a very powerful combination."
FremantleMedia already licenses several of its hit formats, including Idol, Got Talent and The X Factor, to broadcasters in China.