Aiming to expand its reach in the factual content landscape, ZDF Enterprises has fully acquired Off the Fence, a leading Dutch production and distribution company dedicated to nonfiction programming.
Off the Fence Productions has created over 500 hours of TV content across a wide range of genres, including science, history, human stories and natural history. Boasting a catalogue of more than 6,500 hours’ worth of content, the company has delivered programming to global broadcasters, including History Channel, MTV, the BBC, Channel 4, MSNBC, PBS, National Geographic Channel, Discovery, The Weather Channel and ZDF.
Some of its recent titles include the documentaries “Untamed Romania” and “BESA: The Promise,” about the men and women of Albania who faced down the Nazis and saved the lives of nearly 2,000 Jews.
Under the deal, Off the Fence’s CEO and founder Ellen Windemuth will remain in the post.
“We are very excited to join such a clever and dynamic group. We have worked closely together for 20 years, and there is a lot of mutual respect,” said Windemuth, who is also the chairperson of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Summit. “We have developed a synergistic common strategy, and I look forward to realizing it together.”
Fred Burcksen, president and CEO of ZDF Enterprises, said Windemuth had been a “valued partner of ZDF Enterprises in general and for ZDFE.unscripted in particular for many years.”
“We have always admired her innovative strength, creative spirit and economical power. For all of us, it was the next logical step in our partnership to join forces and networks in order to enable us to jointly be even more successful in the future,” he said.
Off the Fence has sales offices in Amsterdam, London, Cape Town and Mainz.