One Media iP Group Plc acquired Men & Motors in December 2012. The acquisition includes the sale and assignment of all rights to the content and trademarks of Men & Motors, approximately 1,600 hours of programming and over 3,000 different episodes from a variety of popular shows from the Men & Motors catalogue of rights. The portfolio obtained by One Media includes the following:
· Motor
Mania presented by Richard Hammond
· Car Crazy Rio featuring Jeremy Clarkson
· Jordan’s Fantasies
· Caprice: Supermodel Special
· 100 Most Popular Cars Ever, presented by John Inverdale
· The Vinnie Jones Show
· Stars in their Cars featuring Daley Thompson, Eamon Holmes and John McCririck
In addition to the above, the other shows in the library feature hundreds of hours of motoring special interest programs, including: Original Mini Racing, the History of the VW Beetle, Customizing Road Cars, Monster Truck Racing, Caterham Car Racing, Vintage Motor shows, Trucks & Truckers, Bikers and their Dream Machines, Mods on Scooters and many more. The 3,000 episodes being acquired originally cost several million pounds to produce and were aired on the Men & Motors channels on Sky TV between 1996 and 2009. The content will now be available across a variety of digital platforms including iTunes, Amazon, and YouTube. Men & Motors was launched on 1 October 1996. It became the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting (“GSB”) joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and British Sky Broadcasting in 1996. The channel enjoyed a surge in popularity between 2002 and 2005 before being moved to Freeview and finally transmitting its last show on ITV4 in April 2010. By way of a return, Boyzone legend and Drift Driver, Shane Lynch will join TV presenter and motoring expert,Torie Campbell in a new format of car crazy antics designed for a new motoring generation. Separating itself from the crowd the new M&M Show promises to rewrite motoring entertainment. Half a million people a week currently view the old shows and clips on the M&M YouTube channels found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNLiybn_9jgQaV0NZlSRwCg