Accenture and Lagardere Active are joining forces

The Broadway Factory, to be jointly owned by Lagardere Active (51%) and Accenture (49%), will specialize in creating and developing interactive programmes for digital television on behalf of the major content and service providers. . (www.thebroadwayfactory.com)

Accenture and Lagardere Active announce the creation of The Broadway Factory¹, a joint company specializing in consultancy, design and development of interactive content and services for digital television.

The objective of this new organization is to work with the major producers and suppliers of content and services in designing and developing interactive programmes for digital television. The Broadway Factory can contribute at all stages of interactive programme production :

Specialized consulting: business approaches, marketing strategy, media strategy and more…

Design, production and development, with advanced technical expertise that is completely independent of the foremost technologies on the market,

The operation and maintenance of the programmes to be broadcast.

Several factors make it a natural development for Accenture and Lagardere Active to join forces in founding this company.

First of all, several years of working together on interactive television projects have revealed the strongly complementary nature of the skills possessed by the two groups:

Lagardere Active :
Lagardere Active has experience in the areas of graphic design and production, expertise in editorial content and credibility in the media and advertising fields;
   
Accenture :
Accenture has skills in the areas of project management and the development of technological solutions, in addition to credibility in the fields of strategic and technological consulting.

In addition, The Broadway Factory’s shareholders share a vision of the interactive television market’s real potential. In a market that has taken a considerable lead over North America, more than three million homes in France are already capable of receiving interactive programmes and more than 14 million homes across Europe are expected to be in the same position by the end of the year (source: Jupiter – European DTV Model, October 2000). Long overshadowed by the Internet, interactive television is now emerging as a new distribution channel for content and services, helped on by television’s power to capture audiences.

Finally, in a market still dominated by technology-based companies, Accenture and Lagardere Active have clearly identified the need for a player that, while fully mastering the technical aspects, can also provide the sector with a true business and marketing dimension, with constant concern for creating value in programme design.

“The Broadway Factory is the fruit of a long-standing collaboration between Accenture and Lagardere Active in the field of interactive services for digital television: our two companies have already been working together on projects in this area for the last two years,” declared Benoît Coville, Accenture partner in charge of Media and Entertainment for Europe and Latin America. “In addition, we share the same vision of the sector, which leads us to believe that creating a joint company is the best way to respond effectively to the industry’s expectations, to win a significant share of a market that is still fragmented and to take advantage of our lead in the area by innovating and creating new services” he continues.

The president of The Broadway Factory will be Pierre Boucaud, who is also president and CEO of Lagardere Active ITV; the venture will be led by Thierry Carmes, associate director with Accenture, who will take over the general management of the new organization.

“This venture offers our two companies a new environment in which we can capitalize on our respective experience and knowledge in the area of interactive television, enabling us to develop new skills and offer our clients the most innovative solutions” states Pierre Boucaud, president of The Broadway Factory.

As soon as it is launched, the Broadway Factory team will be made up of about thirty professionals from various backgrounds: consulting, media and new technology. This line-up, based in Paris, will work closely with teams from Accenture and TV/Internet and advertising production teams from Lagardere Active, with the aim of rapidly extending their activities to the major European markets.

Accenture is the world’s leading provider of management and technology consulting services and solutions, with more than 70,000 people in 46 countries offering a wealth of expert advice and a wide range of solutions to clients across all industries. Accenture operates worldwide with one common brand and business model, designed to enable the company to offer consistent service to its clients everywhere. With this strategy, Accenture is building a network of businesses to meet the full range of organizational needs-consulting, technology, outsourcing, alliances and venture capital. The company generated revenues of .75 billion for the fiscal year ended 31 August 2000 and .71 billion for the six months ended 28 February 2001. For more information, visit Accenture’s Website : www.accenture.com/fr