Autentic, the Munich documentary producer and distributor part-owned by Beta Film, has bought the assets of France’s Gedeon Media Group and will run its production business through a new Paris subsidiary, Gedeon Studios, the company announced on Thursday 12 November. The deal covers Gedeon Programmes, Docland Yard and MC4, their productions in progress, a catalogue of about 3,000 hours of factual programmes and a set of digital channels. No price was disclosed.
The sale comes out of a liquidation. Gedeon, one of France’s best-known science and history documentary houses, had its companies placed in judicial liquidation by the Paris economic activities court, the former commercial court, on 21 August. Autentic’s announcement calls the deal “a new chapter” and does not mention the liquidation. For French broadcasters and co-production partners, the practical point is that the programmes already in production now have an owner.
Key facts
- Buyer: Autentic (Munich), founded in 2008 as a joint venture between Patrick Hörl and Beta Film
- Assets: Gedeon Programmes, Docland Yard and MC4, about 3,000 catalogue hours, digital channels
- In production: about 25 hours of television and two feature-length documentaries
- New company: Gedeon Studios, Paris, led by producer Carine Nonnenmacher, with seven staff from Gedeon
- Court record: liquidation ordered on 21 August 2026, with insolvency dated to 13 July, according to the official BODACC notices
The deal
Gedeon Studios takes over all productions and development. Autentic Distribution will sell the catalogue, and Autentic’s channels division will run the digital channels. Seven people move across from the old group, among them senior producers Laurence Favreau, Valérie Guerin and Coraline Roch and head of development Mina Cuche. Carine Nonnenmacher, one of Gedeon’s established producers, will lead the studio.
Gedeon founder Stéphane Millière stays on as senior consultant for programme development. In Autentic’s release he said Hörl, Autentic’s managing director, would become president of the new Gedeon. Hörl said that teams in Paris and Munich, “the two biggest markets in Europe”, and “significant synergies in the monetization of content” would make the combined business “more resilient in the current, challenging market environment”.
What the court records show
The official insolvency notices in BODACC, France’s register of company announcements, record that the Tribunal des activités économiques de Paris ordered the judicial liquidation of Gedeon Programmes, Docland Yard and the distribution arm Terranoa on 21 August 2026. The court fixed the date the companies stopped paying their debts as 13 July and named Selarl Guigon Associés, in the person of Pierre-Adrien Guigon, as liquidator. The notices were published between 8 and 13 September.
Broadcast International reported in August that MC4, the group’s theatrical documentary label, was also liquidated, and that the production companies had been allowed to keep trading until 21 November while a buyer was found. Terranoa closed at once. The deal therefore lands nine days before that deadline. C21Media reported on Thursday that six companies had been interested in the assets.
Why Gedeon failed
Millière gave three reasons in August, speaking to the French newsletter Satellifacts, as reported by Broadcast International. French broadcasters were commissioning less, and later, with Canal+ freezing its Les Nouveaux Explorateurs strand for several months. Costly projects weighed on the group, above all a Lady Liberty virtual-reality experience that needed $2.4m, of which only a third was raised. International sales at Terranoa had also slowed. Virtual-reality work for museums had become one of the group’s specialities, through its immersive arm, Gedeon Expériences.
Who they are
Gedeon Programmes was founded in 1996 and produced about 40 hours of programmes a year in science, archaeology, history and culture. Autentic says Gedeon’s films have won more than 500 international awards and that its broadcaster clients include the BBC, National Geographic, PBS, NHK, RAI, SVT and ZDF. Recent work includes À l’origine de la vie sur Terre: les impacts d’astéroïdes, made with ARTE France and WGBH’s NOVA in association with NHK and PBS International.
Autentic, founded in Munich in 2008, produces and distributes factual programmes and runs its own free ad-supported streaming channels, including Autentic History and Autentic Travel. It belongs to Jan Mojto’s Beta Film group.
Our reading
Documentaries are a hard business in Europe right now. The European Audiovisual Observatory found this week that documentaries make up 19% of cinema releases but sell 0.6% of tickets, and French public funding is under pressure, with the state auditor proposing a €690m cap on CNC funding. Buying assets out of a liquidation lets Autentic take the catalogue, the team and the broadcaster relationships, while the old companies’ debts stay behind in the liquidation.
The deal adds to a week of consolidation in French production, after Montefiore moved to take control of Federation Studios. The test for Gedeon Studios is the next round of commissions from French broadcasters, the same market that Millière blamed for the collapse.
Sources
- Autentic, Autentic acquires Gedeon Media Group assets and establishes Gedeon Studios (Munich, 12 November 2026)
- Autentic, About us (founded 2008, joint venture of Patrick Hörl and Beta Film)
- BODACC, liquidation notices for Gedeon Programmes, Docland Yard and Terranoa, Tribunal des activités économiques de Paris (judgment of 21 August 2026, published 8–13 September 2026)
- Broadcast International, French factual firm Gédéon Media faces bankruptcy (26 August 2026)
- C21Media, Autentic acquires Gedeon Media’s assets and sets up new studio arm (12 November 2026)
- Gedeon Media Group, À l’origine de la vie sur Terre: les impacts d’astéroïdes (film page)