I wrote about British TV falling into U.S. hands, what the U.K.’s YouTube trap means for Hollywood and how Saturday Night Live UK survived the skeptics. Email me at manori@theankler.com
RedBird IMI CEO Jeff Zucker helped assemble the world’s biggest independent production company in Banijay Entertainment, but even he knows Hollywood — consumed by its own current dramas — has barely noticed.
Banijay, a major player in Europe, produces the likes of Survivor, Big Brother, MasterChef, Black Mirror and Peaky Blinders. Earlier this month, it merged with All3Media — the RedBird IMI-owned producer of The Traitors, Squid Game: The Challenge, Hamnet and Sam Mendes’ forthcoming Beatles biopics — creating a London-based production supergroup.
Even so, “The U.S. does not fully understand what a significant player this new company is on the global stage,” the former CNN and NBCUniversal chief tells me this week.
But that, he bets, is going to change. “We’ll continue to take them by surprise,” he says. “And sometimes that’s an even better way to operate.”
Jointly owned by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI — the private equity joint venture between Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners, which owns 25 percent, and the UAE-backed International Media Investments, which has 75 percent — Banijay now comprises more than 170 production companies on five continents. Its scale is “unsurpassed globally,” says Zucker, speaking to me from his home base in New York. RedBird IMI contributed All3Media to the venture in exchange for its 50 percent stake, with Zucker installed as board chairman.
In many respects, it couldn’t be a worse time to be a producer. Market consolidation is squeezing an ever-narrowing circle of buyers, and paltry profit margins on TV budgets make it tough to eke out a business. Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery has hit what might be a roadblock or merely a speed bump, but if it closes, it’s the kind of deal that could make life more difficult, not easier, for a sprawling business like Banijay Entertainment.
Zucker doesn’t see it that way.
“If there are fewer buyers out there,” he says, “they’re going to want partners that can deliver premium IP, consistent quality and can execute across genres and territories. That’s exactly the role we want to play.” He acknowledges, however, that future-proofing will also lean heavily on Banijay’s live-events outfit, Balich Wonder Studio, which this week expanded into North America, as well as digital-rights business Little Dot Studios and further growth in the U.S.
Banijay is the heftiest play the executive has made since joining RedBird IMI as CEO in early 2023. The RedBird IMI portfolio includes nonfiction studio EverWonder, which made Netflix’s America’s Next Top Model doc series; The Morning Show producer Media Res; sports-industry news platform Front Office Sports; kids entertainment outfit Hidden Pigeon Company; and Canadian doc producer Bright North Studios. Until the JV with Banijay Group, the company’s largest investment was buying All3Media for $1.45 billion in 2024.
RedBird IMI is said to be a potential buyer for Love Island producer ITV Studios — soon to be unmoored from broadcaster ITV if Sky completes its takeover next year — as well as for Lionsgate. Zucker kiboshes the near-term prospect of either deal.
“We’ve had absolutely no conversations with anybody, so any reports that are out there are incorrect,” he says. “Our primary focus right now is about integrating these two companies, bringing these two cultures together and getting this new company right.”
But that doesn’t mean the PE group won’t be turning over stones in search of its next deal — and expect news to be part of that future. RedBird IMI took control of British newspaper The Telegraph in 2023 after paying off its owners’ debts. Its bid for ownership, however, was foiled after outcry at the group’s UAE backing led to changes to the law to limit foreign state ownership of newspapers. RedBird Capital Partners tried again in 2025 via a consortium but pulled out months later — and this June, RedBird IMI sold its interest in The Telegraph to Germany’s Axel Springer, booking a profit on the saga. None of that is stopping Zucker from exploring further opportunities in news.
When I ask for Zucker’s media diet, he fires off a string of legacy outlets (CNN doesn’t make the cut), but when it comes to investments, he singles out the creator space around news and information as a “real growth area.”
What creators does he follow? “I don’t want to either help or hurt anybody,” he teases. “But obviously that’s a world I’m very, very interested in.”
In our wide-ranging conversation, he reveals:
- Where RedBird IMI sees growth in traditional TV and film production
- The live events that will help Banijay Entertainment grow
- The podcasting business Zucker wishes he’d bought
- Why Banijay may “rationalize” smaller labels as part of its $57 million cost synergies
- Why Zucker thinks news creators are the real “opportunity space” — and how to get people to pay for news
- Why complications arising from RedBird IMI’s UAE backers don’t faze Zucker
- The ex-CNN boss’ media-diet staples today
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