Tinopolis

Tinopolis
Tinopolis
Type Privately held company
Industry Television production
Founded 1990
Headquarters Llanelli, Wales
Key people

Ron Jones, Executive Chairman
Arwel Rees, CEO
Angharad Mair, Chairman Wales
Jeff Foulser, Chairman Sunset + Vine
John Willis, CEO Mentorn

Toby Wyles
Ben Johnson
Revenue £66 million (2007)
Operating income £5.67 million (2007)
Net income £2.18 million (2007)
Employees 404 (2007)
Website www.tinopolis.com

Tinopolis plc is a Welsh independent television production company, owned by its senior management and private equity company Vitruvian Partners. Tinopolis produces over 2,500 hours of television annually for more than 200 UK and foreign broadcasters.[1]

Contents

History

The parent company, Tinopolis, was established in Llanelli, Wales, in 1990.[2] It was one of the few television production companies to be publicly listed and its acquisition of major UK competitors contributed to its growth in the early 21st century.

Tinopolis purchased The Television Corporation, the parent company of Sunset + Vine and Mentorn, in 2006.[3]

The Tinopolis division, based in Llanelli has been a mainstay of Welsh language television for many years and specialises in live programmes.

The sport division, Sunset + Vine, was founded in 1983, and won several BAFTA awards for its horse racing coverage and its cricket coverage for Channel 4. They also provide a large amount of coverage of American sports for Five including MLB coverage from launch in 1997 until 2008.

Mentorn and Folio, the main factual brands, are amongst the longest established and respected independent producers in the UK.

Video Arts, the training media company, was founded in 1972 by comic John Cleese, and since trained about 100,000 organisations in approximately 50 countries.[2] Video Arts was purchased by Tinoplis in 2007.[2]

In 1988, writer and director Ed Thomas founded Fiction Factory, a company now part of Tinopolis.

Shares of Tinopolis plc were listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in 2005.[3] It was widely held by major institutions and purchased in 2008 for £44.7  million by management and private equity company Vitruvian Partners, taking the company private again.[3][4][5]

In late 2009 Tinopolis acquired Pioneer Productions, the leading factual producer. [6]

During 2011 Tinopolis expanded its operations overseas through the acquisition of A Smith & Co Productions in June 2011 and BASE Productions in August 2011. [7] [8]

Operations

Tinopolis has production centres in Llanelli, London, Glasgow and Cardiff.

Operating subsidiaries
Company Genre Annual output (h) Major titles Notes
Tinopolis Welsh language programmes Wedi 7 and Wedi 3
Daybreak Pictures Drama David Aukin and Hal Vogel
DEEM Animation animator Dave Edwards
Fiction Factory Drama Caerdydd
Y Pris
Ed Thomas
Folio Documentary Traffic Cops
Mentorn Miscellaneous Question Time
POP 1 Documentary
Sport
Children
Sunset + Vine Sport 2000

MLB on Five
NFL on Five
NBA on Five
NHL on Five
FIFA World Cup
Dubai World Cup
Volvo Ocean Race
European Poker Tour
Cricket on Five
Gillette World Sport
Eurovision Dance Contest
The Grand National Steeplechase

[9]
Tinopolis Interactive Combined media and internet
for corporate clients
Video Arts Training

See also

References

External links