Pure Flix and Great American Media Complete Merger
By Movieguide® Contributor
Pure Flix and Great American Media have completed their previously announced merger, combining Great American Media’s family-friendly, wide-reaching channels with Pure Flix’s faith and family catalog.
“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 underserved market,” said Great American Media CEO Bill Abbot.
“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,” he continued.
As the companies merge, Great American Media retains a majority interest in the consolidated company and oversees the day-to-day management of the organization.
The companies first announced their plans to merge in May of this year, citing the desire to reach a broader audience and establish themselves in faith-based media as the reasons for combining the companies.
“In a media environment where programming and distribution business models are in a constant state of flux, this agreement provides a rare opportunity to maximize our potential with the expertise, market knowledge and content creation capabilities of a world class partner like Sony Pictures,” Abbott said in May. “This merger will allow us to further our commitment to original, quality content and makes Great American Media and Pure Flix leaders in a large and under-served market.”
“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,” added 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,” Ahuja continued.
Movieguide® previously reported on the merger:
“We are thrilled to have entered into an agreement to merge with Pure Flix, a streaming platform that focuses on faith and family content,” Abbott shared in a Great American Family Insider update. “This new structure will allow us to produce more programming for [our audience] and expand the reach of our content.”
He went on to say that GAC will continue to “work hard at developing movies that reach a certain quality level,” and thanked viewers for their continued support of the network.
This merger does mean a little reshuffling when it comes to new movie premieres. Some of the projects that were expected to debut in June will now be held until July and August.
“The silver lining here is we will be able to offer you a new movie every Saturday night throughout the remainder of the year once we get started this Summer,” Abbott’s statement continued.
