STV Studios Acquires Greenbird Media’s Network of 15 Indies

The deal increases the number of labels within STV Studios from nine to 24, expands its network of senior creative leaders and brings in a pipeline of new programme ideas – several of which have already been greenlit for 2024.

Since its formation in 2012, Greenbird has built a large independently-owned network of producers in the UK, with an archive of more than 2,000 hours of content. This year, companies within the Greenbird network will produce over 350 hours of new programming across 25 returning series.

Greenbird production companies include Tuesday’s Child (Lego Masters, The Hit List), Rumpus Media (The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, Late Night Lycett), Flicker (Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek) and Owl Power (Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing).

Read more Media tech start-ups: Incubation and growth

As a result of the acquisition, STV Studios now has expanded bases in Glasgow and London, as well as offices in Cardiff, Belfast, Brighton and Manchester.

Greenbird founders Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin, will join the STV Studios board in the roles of Chief Commercial Officer and Finance and Integration Director respectively, working alongside Chief Operating Officer, Paul Sheehan, and under the leadership of Managing Director, David Mortimer.

Simon Pitts, CEO, STV Group, said: “Growing STV Studios into the UK’s #1 nations and regions production company is one of our core strategic objectives. This transformative acquisition represents a major step towards that goal, adding significant scale and creative firepower to the group and immediately accelerating STV’s overall diversification in terms of both revenue and profit. We’re delighted to be partnering with Greenbird and to welcome their incredibly talented network of creative leaders to the STV family as we jointly aim to grow our production base in the UK and internationally.”

Munro and Mullin said: “This is an exciting new chapter in Greenbird’s history. We are hugely proud of the Greenbird incubator model we have built. It has given creatives space to flourish and deliver some of the most innovative, entertaining and loved programmes in the UK. Their creative power is unrivalled and has been recognised by viewers, critics, awards panels and through the volume of international sales that their shows have generated. We’re delighted to be working with Simon and David at STV. We look forward to a future together helping a wider network of creatives realise their ambitions.”

Read more Live music streaming: Developing a new performance paradigm