GREAT AMERICAN MEDIA COMPLETES MERGER WITH PURE FLIX
Transformational Deal Positions Company as Leaders in Family and Faith-Based Entertainment
New York, NY – June 15, 2023 – Great American Media and Sony Pictures Television’s Pure Flix have completed the previously announced merger to combine the two companies. The successful merger joins Great American Media’s family-friendly linear and FAST (free ad-supporting streaming TV) channels with the Pure Flix faith and family SVOD (subscription video on demand) service into a consolidated entity.
Great American Media retains a majority interest in the merged company and oversees day-to-day management of the independent organization under the leadership of Bill Abbott, who serves as CEO and reports to the company’s board of directors. Great American Media will build on the combined portfolio’s multi-faceted family and faith media brands and diversified content distribution capabilities to reach larger and broader audiences on each platform.
“The merger marks a significant milestone for our company, our employees, our business partners and our fans as we take an important step in our mission to become the leader in trusted, faith and family entertainment for a large and under-served market,” said Abbott. “We are extremely excited that Sony Pictures has chosen to partner with us, and we look forward to combining these two dynamic organizations to accelerate Great American Media’s growth strategy.”
Pure Flix is a leading streaming service in providing faith and family-friendly movies and series, while Great American Media’s flagship network Great American Family is currently in approximately 50M homes and recently celebrated seven consecutive months as TV’s fastest-growing network.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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ABOUT GREAT AMERICAN MEDIA
Great American Media is home to a family-friendly portfolio of brands including Great American Family, Pure Flix and Great American Living. As the flagship linear TV network, Great American Family features original Christmas movies, rom-coms and classic series that celebrate faith, family and country. Pure Flix is a leading faith and family streaming service that inspires, uplifts and entertains with content that you can confidently stream with the entire family. Great American Living features lifestyle programming that celebrates family-friendly traditions every day and every season. Great American Media is also home to FAST (free ad-supporting streaming TV) channel Great American Adventures, which offers scripted and unscripted content highlighting themes including cooking and DIY, and Great American Community, a free direct-to-consumer streaming app featuring short-form original series hosted by well-known lifestyle experts. Great American Media was established in June 2021 by Bill Abbott and a group of US-based family offices.
ABOUT PURE FLIX
Pure Flix is your home for faith and family-friendly movies and shows where you can confidently stream with the entire family. With new premium and exclusive original entertainment choices every week, you can strengthen your faith and family with Pure Flix – a streaming service that inspires, uplifts and entertains. You’ll get access to the largest variety of high-quality wholesome movies, series and kids’ content at one low price. Experience the difference that positive, encouraging entertainment can have in your home. Pure Flix is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
ABOUT SONY PICTURES TELEVISION
Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry’s leading content providers, producing, distributing and carrying programming worldwide in every genre and for every platform. In addition to managing one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT is home to a thriving global content business, operating a robust portfolio of wholly-owned and joint-venture production companies across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, as well as linear and digital channels around the world. SPT is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation.
Contacts:
Great American Media:
Angela Sullivan
Sony Pictures Television:
Stacy Weitz
Corporate Communications
PURE FLIX AND GREAT AMERICAN MEDIA TO MERGE
Sony Pictures’ Faith and Family Streaming Service to Join Forces with Great American Media’s Portfolio of Family-Friendly Cable and FAST Channels to Serve Growing Audiences
Culver City, CA and New York, NY – May 11, 2023 – Pure Flix, a leading faith and family streaming platform owned by Sony Pictures Television, and Great American Media, home to a growing portfolio of family-friendly media brands, today announced the signing of an agreement to merge the two companies. Pure Flix will become part of the merged company, with Great American Media contributing two cable networks (Great American Family and Great American Living) and a FAST channel (Great American Adventures). Great American Media will retain a majority interest in the merged company and will oversee day-to-day management of the independent organization.
Great American Media President and CEO, Bill Abbott, will serve as CEO of the merged entity, reporting to the company’s board of directors. The new company will build on the multi-faceted, multi-channel family and faith media brands in the portfolio. Closing of the deal is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Pure Flix and Great American Media share the same mission to serve and delight consumers in the family and faith categories. Combining the power of Great American Media’s linear networks and FAST channel with Pure Flix’s SVOD service and vast content library will provide an opportunity for each platform to reach a larger and broader audience. Bringing the brands together into one entity will immediately establish the company as a leader in the genres.
“Family-friendly entertainment remains an important segment of the industry, and merging these two entities will create the greatest opportunity to achieve more scale for Pure Flix as it continues to build its subscriber base,” said Ravi Ahuja, Chairman of Global Television Studios and Corporate Development for Sony Pictures. “Bill and the Great American Media team have been successfully leading the Great American Family and Great American Living brands, and we believe they have a winning plan to take Pure Flix to even greater heights.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SPT acquired Pure Flix in December 2020. The service provides faith and family-friendly movies and TV series to its ~1M subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
Featuring original Christmas movies, rom-coms and classic series that celebrate faith, family and country, Great American Family is currently in ~50M homes and is carried by all major cable providers. Great American Family recently closed out First Quarter 2023 as the fastest-growing network on TV for the second consecutive quarter.
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ABOUT GREAT AMERICAN MEDIA
Great American Media is home to a family-friendly portfolio of brands including Great American Family and Great American Living. As the flagship network, Great American Family features original Christmas movies, rom-coms and classic series that celebrate faith, family and country. Great American Living features lifestyle programming that celebrates family-friendly traditions every day and every season. Great American Media is also home to FAST (free ad-supporting streaming TV) channel Great American Adventures, which offers scripted and unscripted content highlighting themes including cooking and DIY, and Great American Community, a free direct-to-consumer streaming app featuring short-form original series hosted by well-known lifestyle experts. Great American Media was established in June 2021 by Bill Abbott and a group of US-based family offices.
ABOUT GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY
Great American Family is America’s premiere destination for quality family-friendly programming, including original holiday movies, rom-coms and fan-favorite series that celebrate faith, family and country. Great American Family is home to year-round seasonal celebrations including Great American Christmas, the network’s signature franchise featuring holiday themed movies and specials. Founded in 2021, Great American Family is part of the Great American Media portfolio of brands. Follow Great American Family on Twitter: @GAfamilyTV Facebook: @GAfamilytv Instagram: @gactv
ABOUT PURE FLIX
Pure Flix is your home for faith and family-friendly movies and shows where you can confidently stream with the entire family. With new premium and exclusive original entertainment choices every week, you can strengthen your faith and family with Pure Flix – a streaming service that inspires, uplifts and entertains. You’ll get access to the largest variety of high-quality wholesome movies, series and kids’ content at one low price. Experience the difference that positive, encouraging entertainment can have in your home. Pure Flix is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
ABOUT SONY PICTURES TELEVISION
Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry’s leading content providers, producing, distributing and carrying programming worldwide in every genre and for every platform. In addition to managing one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT is home to a thriving global content business, operating a robust portfolio of wholly-owned and joint-venture production companies across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, as well as linear and digital channels around the world. SPT is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation.
Contacts:
Great American Media:
Angela Sullivan
Sony Pictures Television:
Stacy Weitz
Corporate Communications
