July 24 – City Football Group (CFG) have partnered with entertainment giant Sony Pictures Television (SPT) to co-develop and produce new original scripted, nonfiction, and kids’ television projects for worldwide audiences.
The initiative will combine CFG’s global network, access to football talent, and the group’s own media creative production unit, ‘City Studios’ with SPT’s production ability to develop stories related directly to CFG and its clubs and players.
Commenting on the launch of the collaboration, City Football Group chief executive officer, Ferran Soriano, said: “City Football Group is already a global entertainment company, and this initiative builds on our long-standing track record of innovation in the content space and the growth of City Studios in the last years. We will now take an even more dynamic approach to content production, and we are already developing several scripted and nonfiction series that will delight audiences globally.”
Man City was the first Premier League football club to produce an in-house documentary and conclude a distribution deal with Netflix earlier this year, with its Together: Treble Winners programme. The club announced a partnership with hit game Fortnite earlier this week.
Wayne Garvie, president, International Production, Sony Pictures Television, said: “Football is the great global game, no other sport produces so many heroes, tears and laughter, joy and heartbreak as football. The basics are always the same: 22 players, two goals, one ball, but the game always evolves and over the last decade City Football Group have become an unprecedented innovator and global leader.
“Our aim is to be part of the next evolution of the game, creating a new generation of innovative football-based entertainment to thrill the world.”
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1734803297labto1734803297ofdlr1734803297owedi1734803297sni@g1734803297niwe.1734803297yrrah1734803297