Fremantle (UK)

Background[]

Fremantle's origins date back to 1994, when Pearson acquired TV companies ACI, Hill-Fields Entertainment and Thames Television to create "Pearson Television." In 1995, it acquired Grundy Television, then two years later, it acquired All-American Television. Then in April 2000, it acquired Talkback Productions, and three months later, on 25 July, the studio merged Pearson Television and CLT-UFA to become "RTL Group" and renamed Pearson Television to its current name, who currently owns the All American, Mark Goodson, and Reg Grundy libraries, among other formats. In 2003, FremantleMedia acquired Australian production company Crackerjack Productions, who merged with another owned FremantleMedia Australian company Grundy Television to form "FremantleMedia Australia". Today, FremantleMedia is a division of the RTL Group, and is 90% owned by German media conglomerate, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, which is 80.9% owned by the Bertelsmann Foundation and 19.1% owned by the Mohn Family. On September 7, 2018, the company changed its onscreen name to simply "Fremantle," though FremantleMedia remains its legal name. Today, Fremantle is a division of the RTL Group, and is 90% owned by German media conglomerate, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, which is 80.9% owned by the Bertelsmann Foundation and 19.1% owned by the Mohn Family. In the 2010s, FremantleMedia sold the rights to Hill-Fields Entertainment TV-movies to Multicom Entertainment Group.

Pearson Television[]

(1997-May 2002)[]

Nickname: "The Shining Arc"

Logo: We see a white screen, which condenses into a lens flare which curves along a green planet on a light blue background. The word "PEARSON" zooms out, the background turns navy blue, and the planet shrinks into a small arc. "PEARSON" settles itself above the arc, and a streak below the arc brings forth either "TELEVISION" or "TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL". As the lens flare moves, it shines brightly, then towards the left, it shines again and turns into a star.

Variants:

"Distributed By" may appear on either the normal or international variants if Pearson was distributing the program.
There is also a still-shot version with "DISTRIBUTED BY" above the television international variant.
- Sometimes, this text is smaller and the logo is much bigger.
Another variation has the byline "What the World is Watching" fading in on all television international versions.
In some shows, the logo is fast motioned.
There was a "Produced and Distributed By" variant that was seen on Falling from the Sky.
On Dale's Supermarket Sweep, the logo read "PEARSON TELEVISION and CARLTON CO-PRODUCTION" with "CARLTON" in its corporate font.
On El Precio Justo (TPIR in Spain), the logo animates in a box, next to the animated TVE logo, also in a box, on a black background. There is a copyright stamp below.
Earlier episodes of 100 Mexicanos Dijeron (Mexico's version of Family Feud) had an in-credit version of the logo, sometimes over the Televisa logo.
A still version without "DISTRIBUTED BY" appears on The Moving of Sophia Myles.
A prototype version exists. Here, the lens flare curves at a slower rate, "PEARSON" zooms out slowly, and just "TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL" is used.

FX/SFX: The lens flare.

Music/Sounds: A synth-orchestra fanfare riddled with bells and shining sounds. On some shows, they use the ending theme. Towards the end of its run, CBS used a generic saxophone/synth theme on broadcasts of The Price is Right.

Music/Sound Variants:

The prototype, IAW and "Distributed by" variants are silent.
On The Christmas Wish, the end theme of the movie was heard.

Availability: Rare.

This was not too common in the States, but can be seen on reruns of The Bill, among other shows in the UK and reruns of Neighbours in Australia.
It appeared on The Price is Right, Family Feud, and Baywatch (which is surprisingly appeared on one episode on its UK DVD of the latter), among others, though current Buzzr/Amazon prints of the 1999 Family Feud plaster it with the FremantleMedia North America logo.
The logo was last seen on the 2000-2001 edition of To Tell The Truth when re-aired on GSN.
The current American Public Television rerun package of Mr. Bean has the Pearson Television International logo edited over the Thames Television Triangle (versions 1 and 2) over all episodes except Mr. Bean's Christmas. Oddly, the regular (non-international variant) logo can be seen at the end of Mitä Maksaa (the Finnish Price is Right) and Que Dice la Gente? (the Venezuelan Family Feud) as well, PAL-tweaked (though Venezuela still uses the NTSC format).
It was also seen on a episode of the 1998-99 version of Match Game on GSN during a Match Game marathon on 25 December 2012.
A handful of episodes of Strike It Rich when aired on Challenge in the UK had this logo preserved (more specifically, episodes with a 1999 copyright that is followed by a Grundy/LWT endcap), while all other episodes use the FremantleMedia logo.
The Pearson/Carlton combo survives on at least one episode of the 1998 season of Dale's Supermarket Sweep on Challenge, whilst other episodes plaster it and the Carlton-era 'CENTRAL Production' endcap with the FremantleMedia logo.
The still version appears at the end of First Wave on Space Canada, Strike it Lucky on Challenge UK, reruns of Prisoner: Cell Block H, a Bulgarian dub of the 1989 TV movie My Brother's Wife (which has it after the Robert Greenwald Productions logo), and at the end f a December 2002 Canal+ (France) airing of the 1996 TV movie A Holiday for Love.
The What the World is Watching variation was seen at the end of prints of episodes of Neighbours and Prisoner: Cell Block H.
On a GetTV airing of The Christmas Wish, this was followed by the 2001 FremantleMedia International logo.

Fremantle[]

2001-2019?[]

Nicknames: "The Splotch", "Creamy Atom", "The Atom"

Logo: On a royal blue background, white paint (which looks more like milk or whipped cream) "bubbles" out in the center, then pulls back and to the right as the paint orbits around to form a stylized atom design. The text "FREMANTLEMEDIA", in Futura font with different font weights, fades in to the left of the atom, as 4 white paint drops appear around the atom to complete the logo.

Variants:

On North American-produced shows, "NORTH AMERICA," in non-bold Futurist type, appears right under "FremantleMedia" next to the bubble. For Australia, "AUSTRALIA" would appear under the name.
- The Australian version appears on post-2006 episodes of Neighbours and Temptation, among other current series in Australia.
The phrase "Distributed by FREMANTLE INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION" appears underneath the logo for global distribution since 2003.
- The phrase "distributed by" appears above the name for US distribution of shows from the UK.
An early variant has been spotted with a white background, black text, a blue globe, and no animation on the final season of Bruce's Price is Right. Some episodes of US TPIR from 2001-02 (like the first Million Dollar Spectaculars) as well as other game shows produced/distributed by the company also have this logo.
A long version exists. In this version, a splash of white paint flies through the air, going from left to right. Then, another splash is seen going the other direction, and then a third flying down from left to right. After that, it fades to the more commonplace short version.
Some versions of this logo are stretched out, such as the one appearing after episodes of The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular from 2008.
On the 2014 Australian version of Family Feud, the short version of the logo is superimposed onto a blue background with a shining yellow line on top of it.
Starting in the 36th season of The Price Is Right, the FremantleMedia logo can now be seen on credits, replacing the Mark Goodson Productions logo. "FREMANTLEMEDIA" is in white, and the symbol is royal blue. The logo is accompanied by the following announcement: "This is (announcer's name) speaking for The Price is Right, a FremantleMedia production."
There is a B/W variant.
On some BBC airings of Neighbours, the URL "www.bbc.co.uk/neighbours" appears below.
The logo appeared superimposed, inside a box, on later episodes of 100 Mexicanos Dijeron. The fully animated logo also appeared on ¿Que Dice la Gente?, inside a box (with a white border), against a black background.
On Portugal's O Preco Certo (em Euros), the phrase "Uma producao RTP executada por:" ("An output performed by RTP") appears above the logo, and is true for all shows on RTP from the company.
An in-credit version appears above the Endemol logo on the Netherlands' version of TPIR, Cash en Carlo.
A superimposed version of the logo appears in rectangular form, above the Caracol TV logo, on 100 Colombianos Dicen (Colombia's version of FF)
At the end of Hole in the Wall on Cartoon Network, the short logo was superimposed in the credits after the show's theme ends. The logo plays with a +1 pitch in a blue rectangle, and after the superimposed logo ends, the American version of the logo plays.
At the end of History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game, a still version is used, with a black background.

FX/SFX: Flying and bubbling paint, the text fading in, the design of the globe logo.

Music/Sounds: A gentle sounder with bongos, culminating in a 3-note guitar strum, with the last note echoing. Composed by Score Productions.

Music/Sounds Variants:

At the end of The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal on CBS, there is a generic guitar-driven CBS theme that plays over the short version of the logo.
At the end of pre-recorded editions of American Idol (i.e. preliminary auditions and second-round performance shows), it has the generic Fox theme ends over the short version of the logo.
In other cases, the end-title theme plays over or it's silent.
On Baywatch, episodes of The Price is Right on the 2008 DVD "Best of" set, and episodes of Family Feud from season 14 and onward, there is a low tone version of the theme.
A long version exists. It uses the extended version of that theme, complete with a piano note in the middle of the sound.
On PAL prints of Fremantle Media shows, the theme is high-pitched.
There is a very short version with the last four notes of the theme.
On Challenge's airings of Strike It Lucky in the UK, the end of the theme plays over the logo on the first two seasons. All episodes of the third season have the theme music interrupted by the jingle, presumably due to sloppy plastering over the Thames Television logo.
On DVD releases of the 1983 television film Adam, the closing theme of the movie is heard, and after the logo has finished, we hear the short version of the 1978 Alan Landsburg Productions theme over the finished logo. The ALP logo, interestingly, is seen before the FremantleMedia logo.
On current prints of series 1 of Count Duckula, the downpour of rain is heard, due to plastering over the Thames logo.
Some current prints of older TV movies from acquired libraries have the 1990's Pearson Television International music playing over the Fremantle North America logo.
A mono mix version of the theme exists, which is sometimes used for plastering over the usual endboard logos (mainly the Thames Television ones).

Availability: Very common. The short version with sounder can be seen on the current version of Family Feud in syndication and GSN, the second season of Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck on GSN, live editions of Fox's American Idol, The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal on CBS, Grojband on Teletoon and Cartoon Network, and Max Steel on Disney XD. The still version appears on Jack the Ripper, Stolen from the Heart, the 2012 Hen's Tooth Video DVD of A Holiday for Love, the 1999 TV movie Deep in My Heart, some classic Thames Television shows on UK DVDs, The Christmas Shoes, and at the end of each episode of History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game. The long version appears on Whammy's first season with the show's theme playing over it. It was also sighted on The Aquabats! Super Show! on Hub Network (now Discovery Family), some Leonard Hill Films TV movies, My Babysitter's a Vampire on Disney Channel, The Moving of Sophia Myles, and Monsuno on Nicktoons. The long version with sounder can be found on ¿Que Dice la Gente? (the Spanish-language version of Family Feud) on Telefutura, on DVD releases of American Idol, Match Game, Family Feud, and The Price is Right, and it was also seen on Temptation: The All-New Sale of the Century, last shown on MyNetworkTV. It's also seen on series 3-8 of The Bill on DVD and on Baywatch on More>Movies ("More Than Movies") in the UK. The long variant also appears at the end of current prints of Count Duckula, either by plastering over the Thames Television logo (on episodes from Series 1) or being seen after the Thames Television logo (on episodes from Series 2) and being seen after Cosgrove Hall Productions's second logo (on episodes from Series 3).

2018-[]

Nicknames: "Script", "Cursive"

Logo: On a black background, two shots fade in and out depicting the letters "Fr" and "e" in white being written out in cursive. A third shot shows a cursive white "m" being drawn, which zooms out to reveal the words "Fremantle" being drawn out in cursive handwriting. The stem of the "t" is the last of the lettering to be drawn after the zoom out.

Variants:

A shorter version with the first two shots omitted has also been shown.
The closing credits for The Price is Right has since been amended to show the still "Fremantle" cursive logo in white at the beginning of the credits and the announcer (as of 2018, George Gray) referring to the show as "A Fremantle production."
On some older shows distributed by Fremantle, the text "Distributed by", "Produced and Distributed by" or “Licensed by“ appears above the logo.
A still version of the “Distributed By” version exists, which runs an unusual three minutes long.

FX/SFX: The writing and the zooming.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic three-note orchestral theme followed by a chorus stinger when the stem of the "t" is drawn. The shorter version cuts out the first two notes. On CBS programs, the network's generic theme is used.

Music/Sounds Variant: Sometimes, the ending theme is played.

Availability: Current.

It first appeared on the September 10, 2018 episode of Neighbours. It debuted in the U.S. on America's Got Talent the next day and later appeared on both The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal the next week, on September 17. Recently the logo has also started to appear on some shows aired on Buzzr, replacing the previous logo, starting with Classic Concentration. The logo should appear on newer episodes of shows that once bore the previous logo. Season 20 of Family Feud began using this logo in October of 2018.
The logo has started to plaster the previous logo on prints of older shows outside of the United States as well.

Editor's Note: This logo is a perfect example of the "simplicity" trend in modern logos, which could be seen as either cheesy or refreshing depending on who you ask.

Other[]

For other related logos and images see: Fremantle (UK)/Other