Entertainment One

Entertainment One, Limited, also known as eOne, (originally Records on Wheels Limited, then ROW Entertainment Income Fund, next Entertainment One Income Fund, Entertainment One (eOne), & E1 Entertainment (E1) before reverting to eOne), is a Canadian entertainment business operating in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.^[1]

History

Entertainment One began operations in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, as Records on Wheels Limited (ROW), founded and operated by Vito Ierullo and Don Ierullo.^[2][3] focusing on retail sales of recorded music. In the late 1970s, ROW began to distribute recorded music for third-party retailers in Canada. For more than 20 years, entertainment content distribution became ROWs primary focus as the company expanded into video, purchasing one of Canadas largest home entertainment distributors, Video One Canada. In November 2003, ROW listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ROW Entertainment Income Fund. It changed its name to Entertainment One Income Fund. The role of Chief Executive Officer of Entertainment One Income Fund was given to the current CEO of eOne by Vito Ierullo.^[4]

In June 2005, Entertainment One Income Fund acquired Koch Entertainment,^[5] North Americas largest independent music label and a large U.S. distributor of home-entertainment products. The combined company, renamed Entertainment One (a.k.a. eOne), had a comprehensive U.S.-Canadian distribution network and began acquiring rights for specialty content. In 2007, in a move to fund expansion into independent, feature-film distribution and rights ownership, eOne was sold to UK-based Marwyn Investment Management and listed on Londons Alternative Investment Market in a $200 million initial public offering.^[2]

In 2007, Entertainment One acquired Montreal-based film distributor Seville Pictures and UK distributor Contender Entertainment. The same year, the company secured its first film output agreement with Summit Entertainment a deal which included the future cinematic and home-video Twilight film series (a teen romance about vampires based on a best-selling book of the same name). Acquisitions continued in 2008 with the purchase of leading Benelux distributor RCV Entertainment. The same year, eOne created its television arm, purchasing production companies Blueprint and Barna-Alper and international television distributor Oasis International.

On May 28, 2012, Entertainment One placed a bid to purchase Alliance Films from Goldman Sachs Group and Investissement Quebec, similar to the purchase of Maple Pictures a year prior.^[6][7]

On January 9, 2013, Entertainment One completed the transaction of Alliance Films for $225 million. With this deal, eOne will distribute titles from The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate as well as Summit Entertainment,and Focus Features in Canada.

eOne Films

eOne Films, formerly Koch-Lorber Films, acquires film content rights and distributes these across multiple territories including Canada, the UK, the Benelux and the United States. Distribution channels include theatrical distribution, home entertainment through DVD/Blu-ray rental and retail, television, and digital downloading service.

eOne Films has more than 20,000 feature films and 15,000 third-party titles. The company made 123 theatrical releases in its financial year ending March 31, 2010. eOnes film division offers independent film producers an alternative to the model provided by the major studios.

eOne Television

eOne Television is a television content business with production, international sales, licensing and merchandising capabilities in Canada and the UK.

In Canada, the business sells and distributes both its own productions and third party catalogues to over 500 broadcasters in 150 countries, including the major U.S. networks, Canadian broadcasters and international pay TV providers. With offices in Toronto, LA and London, eOne Television is involved in the creation, production and international distribution of TV content across all genres. eOne has recently made deals with major broadcasters in the U.S. and around the world with series such as Hung for HBO,^[8] The Firm currently airing on NBC, The Bridge, currently airing on CTV^[9] and Rookie Blue premiering Summer 2010 on ABC and Canwest.^[10] Haven, currently in production, has been picked up by SyFy Channel,^[11] Canwest and Tele Munchen Group and production recently wrapped on the first season of Call Me Fitz starring Jason Priestly.^[12]

eOne Music

Main article: E1 Music

Based in New York City, eOne Music, formerly E1 Music/Koch Records, is generally regarded as the largest independent music label in North America.^[13] Since its inception as Koch Records, eOne Music has charted over 100 albums on Billboard's Independent Chart, surpassing the number of titles charted by all other U.S. independent labels and was the number one independent label according to Billboard for four consecutive years. The music division covers all musical genres from adult-contemporary to rock, urban to country, children's to classical.

eOne Family

In the UK, eOne Family (formerly E1 Kids) creates, produces and distributes childrens entertainment with broadcasting partners including Nick Jr and Channel 5, across 190 territories including the U.S., Scandinavia, France and Germany. eOne Familys Peppa Pig franchise is one on the most popular pre-school brands in the UK, surpassing over £100 million in retail sales in the 2009 financial period.^[14]

eOne Distribution

eOne Distribution division delivers, through both physical and digital channels, eOnes own and third party content to over 3,000 retail partners through its networks across Canada and the U.S.^[15] The division provides distribution services to a wide range of content producers, including the major Hollywood studios. eOnes distribution division is the largest wholesaler of DVDs, CDs and video games in Canada and the largest independent distributor for video and music in the U.S.

Releases

Films

This article uses material from the article Entertainment One from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.