The New York-based corporation announced the purchase Dec. 13, adding to its existing streaming holdings, the centerpiece of which is the San Francisco-based service Tubi. Terms were not disclosed, but Variety reported that the price of the acquisition was approximately $100 million.
MarVista founding partner and Chief Executive Fernando Szew will continue to lead the company as it moves under the Fox umbrella but he will report to Stefan Reinhardt, Fox Entertainment’s president of production strategy and
operations.
Founded in 2003 and based in Westwood, MarVista creates original made-for-TV and direct-to-subscription-video-on-demand content for networks such as Lifetime and Hallmark Channel and streaming providers like Netflix Inc. According to the company, it offers “efficient and on-demand development and production capabilities aligned with marketing and distribution,” making MarVista a largely self-sufficient operation that can deliver content to its new parent company, and in particular, streaming platform Tubi, which Fox bought for $440 million in April 2020.
MarVista’s catalog of more than 2,500 hours of programming will be added to Tubi’s library, including holiday-themed content, a MarVista specialty.
“Fernando and his team have built a globally respected studio with a track record of prolific creative output, a vast library of owned titles and an efficient approach to production that’s admired industrywide,” Charlie Collier, chief executive of Fox Entertainment, said in a statement. “With these key strategic advantages, acquiring and investing in MarVista aligns perfectly with Fox Entertainment’s long-term vision for streaming and diversifying our in-house capabilities and infrastructure.”
Fox Corp., whose main holdings include its television network and broadcast stations, Fox News and Fox Sports, began operating independently in March 2019 after Walt Disney Co. acquired the motion picture, cable entertainment and broadcast satellite divisions of its former parent company, 21st Century Fox. Since then, Fox Corp. Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch has acquired holdings in a number of businesses, including San Francisco-based tech company Credible Labs Inc., North Hollywood-based animation studio Bento Box Entertainment and Playa Vista-based tabloid journalism news service TMZ, to effectively build a new media empire without the content library of the movie studio from which it got its name.
