Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has acquired the assets of radio production and syndication business Authentic Entertainment and will represent digital video business Vevo in Australia.
The deal with parent company of Authentic Entertainment, MCM Entertainment, includes all of Authentic Entertainment's radio intellectual property including program trademarks and social media assets, along with all syndication agreements for programs including The Weekend Breafkast, Boxed In and Planet Vevo.
Authentic Entertainment claims to have Australia's most extensive audio content library in radio program production, comedy, concert recording and celebrity interviews.
The agreement will also see a thirteen of Authentic Entertainment's staff transferring across to SCA to work on is radio syndication and digital media businesses.
In addition, the agreement will see SCA represent Vevo in Australia, giving the company access to all advertising for the region and talent integration for its clients. Vevo is a joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group.
SCA CEO Grant Blackley says the business was a very attractive opportunity for SCA.
“The Vevo contract is an exciting addition to our stable of media businesses, particularly our digital business," Blackley says.
"We will now have unprecedented access to advertising inventory on an extremely high demand video platform, giving us the ability to offer even more effective brand solutions for our clients.
"It makes sense to take production of our shows back in-house and I welcome our new employees who are coming across from Authentic.”
MCM will leave its existing offices in Sydney and Melbourne for a smaller creative space in Melbourne. It will be focusing on audio-visual content opportunities for TV and online platforms.
MCM founder and chairman Tony McGinn said that the deal is a positive outcome for our stakeholders
“We are also happy that our heritage is in the hands of the largest radio enterprise in Australia,” McGinn says.
“I must say to have run, sustained and grown an independent media company for more than 3 decades in the Australian media industry servicing radio, television and digital platforms has been a real accomplishment, particularly in the last challenging decade with so much structural change in media. It has been an amazing journey involving many great and passionate people.”
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