Pure Flix, Great American Media announce merger

Pure Flix and Great American Media are two of the largest companies providing family-friendly entertainment. Now they are joining forces.

The Sony-owned Pure Flix is a faith-based streaming service. Great American Media owns the Hallmark-rival Great American Family. The companies last week announced the signing of an agreement to merge, saying it will benefit the faith and family audience and provide an opportunity for each platform to reach a larger and broader audience.

Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Great American Media, will serve as CEO of the merged entity and report to the board of directors.

“In a media environment where programming and distribution business models are in a constant state of flux, this agreement provides a rare opportunity to maximize our potential with the expertise, market knowledge and content creation capabilities of a world-class partner like Sony Pictures,” he said. “This merger will allow us to further our commitment to original, quality content and makes Great American Media and Pure Flix leaders in a large and underserved market.”

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Pure Flix will become part of the merged company, with Great American Media contributing two cable networks (Great American Family and Great American Living) and the free ad-supported streaming channel Great American Adventures.

“Family friendly entertainment remains an important segment of the industry, and merging these two entities will create the greatest opportunity to achieve more scale for Pure Flix as it continues to build its subscriber base,” said Ravi Ahuja, chairman of global television studios and corporate development for Sony Pictures. “Bill and the Great American Media team have been successfully leading the Great American Family and Great American Living brands, and we believe they have a winning plan to take Pure Flix to even greater heights.”

The companies share the “same mission to serve and delight consumers in the family and faith categories,” a news release said. “Combining the power of Great American Media’s linear networks and FAST channel with Pure Flix’s SVOD service and vast content library will provide an opportunity for each platform to reach a larger and broader audience. Bringing the brands together into one entity will immediately establish the company as a leader in the genre.”