Endemol Australia
| Formerly | Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. (1972–1983) Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Ltd. (1983–1988) Southern Star Group Pty, Ltd. (1988–2013) |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Animation Television production |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Founder | Neil Balnaves |
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Fate | Merged with Shine Australia |
| Successor | Endemol Shine Australia |
| Headquarters | Sydney, New South Wales |
Key people | Mark and Carl Fennessy (CEO) |
| Parent | Taft Broadcasting (1972–1988) Hamlyn Group (50%) (1974–1978) James Hardie Industries (50%) (1978–1988) Independent (1988–2004) Southern Cross Broadcasting (2004–2007) Fairfax Media (2007–2009) Endemol (2009–2015) |
Endemol Australia[1] (formerly known as Southern Star Group, Southern Star Productions, Southern Star/Hanna-Barbera Australia & Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Ltd.) was Australia's largest independent television production and distribution group. In 2015, the company was merged with Shine Australia to form Endemol Shine Australia.[citation needed]
History[]
The company began in 1972 as Hanna-Barbera Pty. Ltd. (Australia), an Australian division of Hanna-Barbera. In 1974, the Hamlyn Group's Australia division managed by Kevin Weldon acquired 50% of Hanna-Barbera Australia and appointed Neil Balnaves as managing director. In 1978, James Hardie Industries acquired the Hamlyn Group, and in 1979, Balnaves was promoted to managing director of the entire Hamlyn Group.[2]
In 1983, James Hardie Industries and Hanna-Barbera corporate parent Taft Broadcasting reorganized the division as Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Ltd. In 1984, the company established a division in Los Angeles known as Southern Star Productions, headed by Buzz Potamkin. Programs produced by this division would be animated at Hanna-Barbera's studios in Sydney, and carried the name Southern Star/Hanna-Barbera Australia. It co-owned CIC Video's Australian video unit called CIC-Taft Video, and launched a video label THG Video in 1984, then renamed to Taft Video in 1987.
In 1988, Neil Balnaves led an A$11 million management buyout of Taft-Hardie, reorganizing the company as Southern Star Group. The home video division was renamed to Southern Star Video in 1989. The Sydney animation facilities were also sold, while the Los Angeles division continued to operate until 1991 when it was sold to Turner Broadcasting System.
In April 2004, the company was acquired by Southern Cross Broadcasting and in 2007, by Fairfax Media.
In January 2009, Endemol acquired Southern Star Factual from Fairfax Media in a transaction worth A$75 million,[3][4] forming a division known as Endemol Southern Star.
On 11 December 2013, Southern Star announced it would re-brand as Endemol Australia.[1] Chief Executive Officer, Janeen Faithfull,[5] stated "As Endemol Australia we’ll continue to build on the heritage and successes of Southern Star."[1]
On 15 November 2016, Mark and Carl Fennessy were appointed joint CEOs of Endemol Australia as well as its current parent company, Endemol Shine Australia.[6]
The company's popular shows for kids are Bananas in Pyjamas (for ABC), The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky (for ABC and Five (UK)), , Ketchup: Cats Who Cook (for NHK), Gordon the Garden Gnome (for BBC, ABC and Cartoon Network), (For Ten), (for ABC) and The Toothbrush Family (for Ten and Nine).
Programs[]
Prime-time drama[]
As Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd./Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Ltd.[]
- Deadline (1982, TV movie)
- Return to Eden (1983–1986)
- The Last Frontier (1986, TV miniseries)
- Shark's Paradise (1986, TV movie)
As Southern Star[]
- Party Tricks
- Offspring
- Return to Eden
- Love My Way
- The Surgeon
- Blue Heelers
- The Secret Life of Us
- Always Greener
- Water Rats
- Marking Time
- Police Rescue
- Murder Call
- Rescue: Special Ops
- Wild Boys
- Rush
- Young Lions
- Blue Murder
- Dangerous
- Out of the Blue
- Fireflies
- Spirited
- Rain Shadow
- The Alice
- Tangle
- Puberty Blues
- Bed of Roses
- Big Sky
- Howzat! Kerry Packer's War
- McLeod's Daughters (2001–2009)
- City Homicide
- Echo Point
- The Beautiful Lie
- Cody
- Which Way Home
- Good Vibrations
- Gallipoli
- Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo
- Paper Giants: Magazine Wars
- Children of the Dragon
- Beaconsfield
- Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War
- Police Crop: The Winchester Conspiracy
- On the Beach
- Joh's Jury
- Police State
- The Last Frontier
- Remember Me
- A Difficult Woman
Comedy[]
- Bad Cop, Bad Cop
- The Bob Morrison Show
- Legally Brown
- You Have Been Watching
Children's[]
As Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd./Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Ltd.[]
- Famous Classic Tales (1970–1983)
- The Toothbrush Family (1974)
- Taggart's Treasure (1976) (unsold pilot)
- The Flintstones: Little Big League (1978, TV movie)[7]
- Dinky Dog (1978–1981)
- Drak Pack (1980)
- CBS Storybreak (1985–1989) (co-production with CBS Entertainment Productions)
- The Berenstain Bears (1985–1987)
- Teen Wolf (1986–1987) (co-production with Clubhouse Pictures in Season 1 and Atlantic/Kushner-Locke in Season 2)
As Southern Star[]
- A*mazing
- Around the World in 80 Days
- Foreign Exchange
- The Adventures of Sam
- Blue Water High
- RAGGS Kids Club Band
- The Sleepover Club
- Tracey McBean
- The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky
- Magic Mountain
- Snobs
- Bananas in Pyjamas (co-production with ABC
- Ketchup: Cats Who Cook
- Time Masters
- Wipeout
- Marvin: Baby of the Year (TV special)
- Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (TV special)
- Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates (co-production with TMS Entertainment and Fox Children's Productions, distributed by 20th Television)
- Hi-5 (co-production with Kids Like Us and Nine Network Australia, season 1 only)
- Elly & Jools
- Kangaroo Creek Gang
- Don't Blame The Koalas
- Pig's Breakfast
- In Your Dreams
- Outriders
- Sea Princesses
- Y?
- A gURLs wURLd
- High Flyers
- All for Kids
- Snake Tales
- Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
- Arthur! and the Square Knights of the Round Table
- The Wayne Manifesto
- Gordon the Garden Gnome
Reality[]
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Factual[]
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Films[]
- beDevil (1993)
- No Worries (1994)
- The Sum of Us (1994)
- Rough Diamonds (1994)
- The Well (1997)
- Serenades (2001)
See also[]
- List of film production companies
- List of television production companies
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "SOUTHERN STAR ENTERTAINMENT TO BECOME ENDEMOL AUSTRALIA". Endemol distribution news. 26 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
- ^ https://www.endemolshine.com.au/?id=1510
- ^ Prior, Alex (21 January 2009). "Southern Star: sold to Endemol (apart from some bits)". Screen Hub. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
- ^ Tabakoff, Nick (21 January 2009). "Berlusconi to own Fairfax's TV producer". The Australian. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
- ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (22 February 2012). "Australia's Southern Star Names TV Industry Vet Janeen Faithfull To CEO Post". Deadline. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
- ^ Endemol shine names Fennessy brothers as Joint Heads of Australian Unit, 15 November 2016, hollywoodreporter.com
- ^ "Fred's little league". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney NSW. 15 May 1978. p. 25.
External links[]
- Southern Star Productions at IMDb
- Southern Star at the Big Cartoon DataBase
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- Television production companies of Australia
- Australian animation studios
- Endemol
- Banijay
- Hanna-Barbera