Industry Television production Operating income Website www.tinopolis.com CEO Arwel Rees (8 Feb 2005–) Founded 1990 Type of business Privately held company | Revenue £66 million (2007) Net income £2.18 million (2007) Number of employees 404 (2007) | |
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Key people Ron Jones, Executive ChairmanArwel Rees, CEOAngharad Mair, Chairman WalesJeff Foulser, Chairman Sunset + VineJohn Willis, CEO MentornToby WylesBen Johnson Subsidiaries Video Arts, Fiction Factory Films | ||
Tinopolis plc is a Welsh independent television production company, owned by its senior management and private equity company Vitruvian Partners. Tinopolis produces over 2,500 hours of television annually for more than 200 UK and foreign broadcasters.
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History
The parent company, Tinopolis, was established in Llanelli, Wales, in 1990. It was one of the few television production companies to be publicly listed and its acquisition of major UK competitors contributed to its growth in the early 21st century.
Tinopolis purchased The Television Corporation, the parent company of Sunset + Vine and Mentorn, in 2006.
The Tinopolis division, based in Llanelli has been a mainstay of Welsh language television for many years and specialises in live programmes.
The sport division, Sunset + Vine, was founded in 1983, and won several BAFTA awards for its horse racing coverage and its cricket coverage for Channel 4. They also provide a large amount of coverage of American sports for Five including MLB coverage from launch in 1997 until 2008.
Mentorn and Folio, the main factual brands, are amongst the longest established and respected independent producers in the UK.
Video Arts, the training media company, was founded in 1972 by comic John Cleese, and since trained about 100,000 organisations in approximately 50 countries. Video Arts was purchased by Tinoplis in 2007.
In 1988, writer and director Ed Thomas founded Fiction Factory, a company now part of Tinopolis.
Shares of Tinopolis plc were listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in 2005. It was widely held by major institutions and purchased in 2008 for £44.7 million by management and private equity company Vitruvian Partners, taking the company private again.
In late 2009 Tinopolis acquired Pioneer Productions, the leading factual producer.
During 2011 Tinopolis expanded its operations overseas through the acquisition of A Smith & Co Productions in June 2011 and BASE Productions in August 2011
Operations
Tinopolis has production centres in Llanelli, London, Glasgow and Cardiff.