Banijay CEO tells European producers to hold the line on show rights

Hold your ground on who owns the show. That was the message from Banijay Entertainment chief executive Marco Bassetti to European producers negotiating with United States studios and streamers.

Bassetti, who leads the London-based production group, spoke during a fireside chat at Rome's MIA market with Italian producer Marco Chimenz. The session was billed as "What does it mean today to be a 'European champion' in an increasingly competitive global content market?", as reported by Variety.

Terms of trade, meaning the standard rules on who owns a programme and how producers are paid for it, were at the centre of his argument. Bassetti said producers in Europe should not give ground to Hollywood buyers on those terms.

He called the battle in Brussels over investment quotas "entirely pointless". He was referring to Europe's Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the law that requires foreign streamers to put a share of their revenue into local productions.

The real fight, Bassetti said, is getting studios and streamers to reward creativity by letting producers keep IP rights. IP, or intellectual property, means who owns a show and can sell it, remake it or license it later.

He gave England as an example. When he makes a programme for a TV network there, he said, he keeps ownership of the IP, with rights reverting to him after three years. That reversion window lets the original maker benefit if a format travels.

Bassetti has led Banijay since 2013. The company took over Endemol Shine in 2020 and, two months before the MIA remarks, completed an $8 billion merger of Banijay and All3Media with RedBird IMI, according to Variety.

All3Media is headquartered in London. Its chief executive Jane Turton became deputy chief executive of the combined group. The enlarged company holds more than 265,000 hours of content.

Its catalogue spans unscripted brands including The Traitors, Big Brother and MasterChef, alongside scripted titles including Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror and Hamnet.

A week before Rome, Bassetti had spoken at the Mipcom TV market in Cannes. There he said he saw room to grow scripted production and hinted at expansion into US scripted.

What makes this stand out for viewers is the link between ownership and jobs. When a producer keeps rights, repeat sales and remakes can fund the next series, the next writers' room and crews of hundreds. When rights pass to the buyer outright, that future income goes elsewhere.