Industry

5 years after CAN’T STOP Media became Vivendi Entertainment following its acquisition by Vivendi, Matthieu Porte, Arnaud Renard and Damien Porte, are becoming independent again and happy to announce the reboot of the UK indie following a new agreement with Vivendi and Canal+.

As part of the deal, CAN’T STOP Media becomes the international distributor for all the existing IPs controlled by Vivendi Entertainment. It includes “Guess my age” (licensed in 18 countries for a total of 1 700 episodes since 2016, including daily versions currently on air in Italy, Spain and Thailand), “Couple or not” (already adapted in 4 countries), “The Secret Song” (TF1’s hit primetime show which was the world’s most optioned format in 2019 – Source: K7 Media), “Facing the Classroom” (adapted in 9 countries, recently on air in the Middle-East and Spain), “Mum of the Week” (adapted in 8 countries including a new daily version in Ukraine on STB), but also “Secrets of the Pyramids Builders”, the 6-part documentary series from Pernel Media coproduced by Smithsonian Channel in the US, or “The Guignols”, the satirical puppet format which is being developed in the US by Fox network and Ben Silverman’s Propagate Content.

The agreement also grants Canal+ with a 2-year first look deal on all the new ideas developed by CAN’T STOP Media. The new shows created under this deal will be distributed by CAN’T STOP.

Matthieu Porte explains: “I would like to thank the Canal+ and Vivendi teams for the amazing last 5 years. Together, we achieved fantastic results in creating hit formats such as “Guess my age” or “Facing the Classroom”. As entrepreneurs, we’re excited to fly on our own in order to catch all the markets opportunities, while keeping a strong business relationship with Canal+.”

Arnaud Renard states: “The increasing number of non-scripted shows commissioned by the new players such as Netflix, Amazon, but also by all the French and international broadcasters offer CAN’T STOP Media great outlooks, from game shows, true crime, factual entertainment to documentaries. We believe being independent will give us more flexibility to launch new IPs with international potential.”

Damien Porte adds: “After taking advantage of being part of a large group to strengthen our relationships with global clients (Sky, ESG, Mediaset, RTL, Discovery, FOX, etc.) we now look forward to cultivating these strong ties, with the added flexibility and fast reactivity in distribution processes we can enjoy as independent.”

Gerald-Brice Viret, General Manager in charge of Broadcasting at Canal+ Group, tells: “Over the last 5 years, Canal+ and Vivendi Entertainment have created many successful shows which became international hit formats, in particular “Guess my age”, the most adapted new format in the world since 2016. We are happy to maintain a preferred relationship with CAN’T STOP Media for the years to come. I’m wishing them lots of success in their new venture.”