Mediaset acquires Zelig

MediaForEurope’s Italian arm, Mediaset, has acquired well-known Italian entertainment brand Zelig following a long collaborative history between the pair, focused on an eponymous show on Mediaset’s Canale 5.

Under the agreement, Mediaset will become the owner of the Zelig brand and all rights to exploit the latter’s archive, TV shows and websites.

Zelig founders Gino Vignali, Michele Mozzati and Giancarlo Bozzo will continue to manage the outfit’s theatrical activities.

Mediaset aims to tap into the Zelig brand to create new content for TV and the web. It said it would look to strengthen Zelig’s fostering of Italian comedic talent and develop new properties through collaboration with Zelig’s founders.

“Zelig is of great value, one of the best known and most loved symbols of Italian entertainment. It is important to us that it continues to exist and grow. And we are sure that thanks to the force

of our networks and the excellent creativity of the founders, the symbol of Italian comedy will have an important future,” said Mediaset CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi

Zelig founders Vignali, Mozzati and Bozzo said: “We express our satisfaction as founders of Zelig in joining Mediaset, the group that has grown our brand over the past 25 years, from the first TV broadcast of 1996 to the present. We are also happy to be able to continue to manage the theatre in Milan, provide the creativity linked to the brand and maintain the artistic direction of Zelig.”