Quiver Entertainment, the distribution and rights management company headed up by industry veterans Jeff Sackman and Berry Meyerowitz, has acquired the library of Kew Media Distribution (KMD) following the collapse of its parent company Kew Media Group (KMG) in February.

Through the deal, Quiver Entertainment has acquired a vast catalogue of feature films, series, miniseries, pilots, specials, documentaries and animated programming. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are thrilled to acquire such a vast and wonderful library of content,” said Jeff Sackman, co-CEO of Quiver Entertainment in a statement. “We have inherited partnerships with some of the most creative and respected producers in the industry, and we look forward to growing this business together.”

Quiver Entertainment is the newly founded sister company of Quiver Distribution, which Sackman and Meyerowitz launched a year ago.

“We are excited to collaborate with all of our customers to continue to make this content available to audiences far and wide,” added Meyerowitz.

The acquisition comes two and a half months after publicly traded KMG was placed into receivership. At the time, its U.K.-based subsidiaries, which included London- and L.A.-based KMD (formerly known as Content Media Corporation), were also put into administration and a sale process was initiated.

Documents released by administrator FTI Consulting revealed that Kew Media Distribution owed £10.8 million (around C$18.6 million) to more than 250 entities when the company was placed into administration. Listed among the unsecured creditors is Shaftesbury, which the documents state was owed £1.59 million (approximately C$2.74 million), in addition to BGM (C$2.47 million), SEVEN24 Films (C$1.44 million), White Pine Pictures (C$182,000) and Deluxe Toronto (C$263,000). (All Canadian dollar figures are converted from British pounds.)

Other unsecured creditors listed in the documents are Netflix (C$136,000), CNN (C$687,000) and U.K.-based Leaving Neverland producer Amos Pictures (C$901,000).

Parts of the KMD catalogue have already been picked up by other companies, with Abacus Media Rights – the company launched by KMD’s former EVP of sales Jonathan Ford – acquiring a number of titles including the upcoming CBC drama Trickster (Streel Films, Sienna Films). Abacus Media Rights also picked up the distribution rights to a pair of Frantic Films titles: High Maintenance (8 x 60 minutes) and Killer in Plain Sight (52 x 30 minutes).

Elsewhere, Canadian prodcos Frantic Films, BGM, Media Headquarters, Sienna Films and Architect Films have come under new ownership in recent months, while another of Kew’s distribution assets, U.K.-based TCB Media Rights, was acquired by Australia-headquartered Beyond International.

Other Canadian titles that were previously sold internationally by KMD include Frankie Drake Mysteries, Baroness von Sketch, 19-2, Heartland, Canada: The Story of Us and Hockey Wives.
Quiver did not disclose any of the individual titles that it has acquired as part of the transaction.

Launched in May of 2019, L.A.- and Toronto-based Quiver is headed up by Meyerowitz, the former president of U.S. film and distribution at eOne and founder of Phase 4 Films, and Sackman, who was previously the president of Lionsgate Films and later headed up TAJJ Media as president. Six weeks ago, Quiver revealed it had acquired the North American rights to Amy Jo Johnson’s sophomore feature Tammy’s Always Dying.

Photo Credit: Quiver Entertainment. Meyerowitz pictured left, Sackman right