{"id":168275,"date":"2025-12-04T19:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/168275\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T19:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:33:07","slug":"versant-plans-fandango-fast-channel-free-tv-networks-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/168275\/","title":{"rendered":"Versant Plans Fandango FAST Channel, Free TV Networks Acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/versant\/\" id=\"auto-tag_versant_1\" data-tag=\"versant\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Versant<\/a> is pushing into the free streaming market and adding an operator of digital over-the-air networks to its portfolio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAs part of an investor presentation Thursday, the company \u2014\u00a0which will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/digital\/versant-standalone-company-date-jan-2-comcast-1236441692\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">formally complete its separation<\/a> from NBCUniversal in January \u2014\u00a0announced a pair of acquisitions and a FAST service on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/fandango\/\" id=\"auto-tag_fandango_1\" data-tag=\"fandango\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fandango<\/a> platform. Versant is acquiring Free TV Networks, which owns several digital broadcast and FAST channels to bolster its TV offering, and INDY Cinema Group, which will become part of Fandango and offer movie theater operators a software platform that supports a number of operations related to their business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFree TV Networks operates over-the-air digital networks 365BLK, Defy and Outlaw and several FAST channels. As part of the acquisition, Free TV Networks president and CEO Jonathan Katz will join Versant and continue to head operations of the networks and free streaming channels. Katz will report to David <br \/>Pietrycha, Versant\u2019s chief revenue and business officer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cAs we prepare to launch Versant as an independent public company, we are focused on building a business with greater scale, more ways to reach audiences, and a stronger foundation for long-term growth,\u201d said Versant CEO Mark Lazarus. \u201cReaching an agreement with Free TV Networks furthers that ambition and reflects our commitment to expanding the range of services and experiences we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn addition to the Free TV Networks outlets, Versant also plans to launch a FAST service on its Fandango at Home platform in the second half of 2026. Fandango at Home currently offers on-demand rentals and purchases of movies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe INDY Cinema Group acquisition is more a B2B play that will expand Fandango\u2019s online ticketing operation into other aspects of movie theater operations, including concessions, marketing and inventory management. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cINDY has done an exceptional job of providing a strong foundation for cinemas to operate more efficiently and deliver a best-in-class user experience,\u201d said Will McIntosh, president digital platforms and ventures at Versant. \u201cWith the acquisition of INDY, we are excited to not only strengthen the support to our nearly 3,000 cinema partners across the U.S. but also create a new global standard for how they can run their businesses and expand their offerings. Fandango and INDY together are positioned to become the digital backbone of modern exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Versant is pushing into the free streaming market and adding an operator of digital over-the-air networks to its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,100056,85,46,411,100057],"class_list":["post-168275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-fandango","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-tv","tag-versant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}