Gravity Media completes Chief Entertainment acquisition in Australia

Gravity Media has completed the acquisition of Chief Entertainment Pty, a Sydney-based provider of live studio and production services, from Telstra Corporation. Gravity Media already operates in Australia under the Gearhouse Broadcast, HyperActive Broadcast and Input Media brands and this acquisition will complement the existing Input Media production centres in the UK as well as its Melbourne production and Sydney post production facilities. The transaction completed on Friday 30 August 2019.

Chief Entertainment is a television and digital production company based in Artarmon on Sydney’s north shore. Chief’s 50 staff provide production services and digital media delivery services to TV networks, sporting federations, entertainment franchises, agencies and commercial brands.

With Telstra fibre connectivity in and out of the building, Chief Entertainment can send and receive content anywhere around the world at a moment’s notice. Chief produces short and long-form programmes for both live and post produced, as well as branded content and commercials.

Chief Entertainment will continue to operate under its existing name and branding until it is fully integrated with Gravity Media’s Australia operations. Under its new ownership, Chief Entertainment will continue to provide Telstra with high quality production services for its enterprise division, digital sports rights and media services.

Chief Entertainment’s services include:

• Live studio based short-form and long-form programme productions
• 24/7 broadcast TV channel play-out and management (FTA, Pay, IPTV)
• Video production services, post production and motion graphics for branded content and television commercials
• Live Outside Broadcast (OB) television production management services.
• Live event streaming and distribution management services.
• Catch-up TV encoding and publishing services
• High-quality live streaming and Video on Demand encoding for online, IPTV, and apps
• Secure video encoding and digital media content management services.

This is the fifth acquisition that Gravity Media has made since securing substantial investment from TowerBrook Capital Partners in September 2016. In 2017 it took over leading sports production company Input Media, to enable the business to offer end-to-end solutions including high-end production and technical facilities, and Australian communications solutions company Stranger Designs to expand its event communications offering.

In March 2018 it bought Genesis Broadcast Services and immediately rebranded it as Gearhouse Broadcast Germany to serve the production markets of Northern Europe. In July 2018 it acquired Proshow Broadcast, a leading supplier of mobile production solutions to broadcasters, producers and rights holders throughout the USA and Canada, which has since been integrated into Gravity Media’s Gearhouse Broadcast USA operations.