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Insight TV Announces Co-Production with VICE Studios for Streetkings in Jail
Amsterdam: Insight TV, the world’s leading 4K UHD HDR broadcaster and producer of native UHD content, is announcing details of its gritty new series Streetkings in Jail, a co-production with VICE Studios, the production company from VICE. Featuring 4 x 44 minute episodes, Streetkings in Jail will launch on Insight TV on September 10th.
Football stars from all over the world hone their skills in playgrounds, parks and on the streets from an early age. As well as building world-class players, these environments are a backdrop for those whose lives travel in a very different direction. In Streetkings in Jail, Insight TV puts the spotlight on those that ended up in prison, spending the majority of their life in a concrete cell.
In each episode Edward Van Gils, the Godfather of street football, will join forces with a football legend and visit a jail in the country they’re from, looking for talented players who took a wrong turn and ended up in the very worst position. Featuring Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), Gilberto Silva (Brazil), Juan Pablo Angel (Colombia) and Kevin Kuranyi (Germany), van Gils explores what puts some street kings on the world stage and others behind bars They will show the benefits street football can bring to the lives of inmates and how they can draw on the positive experiences that sport delivers to stay out of trouble in the future. As well as training them for a match, Edward and the legends will find out about the inmates backgrounds, what led to the moment that changed their lives forever and what they will do if and when they are released from prison.
Frank le Mair, Executive Producer, Insight TV, says, “What triggered me to commission this series is the micro cosmos a little square around the corner of your house can be. You might find kids playing football that end up making it on a national team and you might find kids that will make bad choices in life, sometimes even more talented, but still end up making mistake after mistake and never get the life they could have had. This new series not only shows how difficult life can become by making one wrong choice, but how football can create positivity and unite people no matter what their background or circumstance. It’s the perfect fit for Insight TV; combining strong personal stories with powerful visuals in high quality.”
Stefan Tieleman, General Manager, VICE Studios Benelux, adds, “Streetkings in Jail isn’t just a series about sports – it shows the impact sports can make on someone’s life at whatever stage that might be. Leveraging on the insights, talent and deep connection with culture coming from VICE, we’re thrilled to bring a fresh, new take on football to the Insight TV viewers across the globe.”
Fiction
Banijay merges with All3Media in $6.65 billion deal
Marco Bassetti will lead the combined company as CEO
PARIS: Six years after acquiring Endemol Shine at the height of the pandemic, Banijay has struck again. The European production heavyweight is merging with All3Media in a deal that will create a television titan with $6.65 billion in revenue and redraw the contours of a fast-consolidating market.
The combined company will trade under the Banijay name and be owned 50 per cent each by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI, which acquired All3Media in 2024. The transaction is expected to close by autumn, subject to regulatory approvals.
Banijay Entertainment CEO Marco Bassetti, will take the top job at the enlarged group. All3Media CEO Jane Turton becomes deputy CEO. RedBird IMI CEO Jeff Zucker will serve as chairman.
The logic is scale. Broadcasters are commissioning less, streamers are tightening budgets and global buyers are fewer but bigger. Against that backdrop, heft matters. The merged entity will generate roughly $6.65 billion in revenues based on 2024 figures, giving it sharper elbows in rights negotiations and deeper pockets for franchise-building.
“Entrepreneurialism, ambition and creativity” remain core to Banijay’s DNA, Bassetti said, flagging plans to invest more heavily in new intellectual property, live events and emerging platforms. Turton struck a similarly bullish note, pointing to All3Media’s journey from a 2003 start-up to a global supplier of hit formats and high-end drama.
Between them, the two groups control a formidable slate. Banijay’s catalogue spans MasterChef, Big Brother, Survivor, Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders and Deal or No Deal. All3Media’s labels include Studio Lambert, producer of The Traitors and Squid Game: The Challenge; Two Brothers, behind The Tourist; and Neal Street, currently producing the forthcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes for Sony.
The back catalogue is equally muscular. Banijay Rights holds some 220,000 hours, while All3Media International adds around 35,000 hours, forming one of the industry’s largest libraries.
Banijay, controlled by French entrepreneur Stéphane Courbit and listed in Amsterdam, counts more than 130 production companies across 25 territories. All3Media operates over 40 labels, with strong positions in the UK, US and Germany. The enlarged group will also lean into live entertainment, building on Banijay’s Balich Wonder Studio, which produced the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and the Independents.
The deal marks a shift in tone. As recently as October, Bassetti suggested that mergers and acquisitions were not a priority. But the drumbeat of consolidation has grown louder. Mediawan has moved for Peter Chernin’s North Road. David Ellison’s Paramount has agreed to a $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros, with plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount plus. ITV has explored selling its media and entertainment arm to Comcast-owned Sky, though talks have reportedly slowed.
