Endemol France & judo star Teddy Riner team on new sports label

Teddy Riner

Banijay-owned Endemol France has partnered with Teddy Riner, the multi-Olympic gold medal winning French judo champion, to launch a new sports production label.

The equally-owned Yasuke Production will see Riner and Endemol France jointly develop and produce formats with a focus on the world of sport, for all broadcasters and platforms, with wide audience appeal.

Endemol France is behind French unscripted productions including local versions of Banijay formats LEGO Masters for M6 and Celebrity Hunted for Amazon Prime Video, as well as Les 12 Coups de Midi for TF1 and Prodigies for France 2.

Riner said that he sees “huge potential in this partnership,” and commented: “I first discovered the world of production through the France 2 documentary La Quête, which traced my journey to the Tokyo Games. This gave me the drive to deepen my knowledge, to undertake, to work, and to think about formats that could be adapted in the sports sense.

“The power of the image in sport is so strong, and now it is time to take this to the next level and explore different avenues for the genre. I believe this partnership will evolve to become the most beautiful playing field.”

Jean-Louis Blot, president of Endemol France, added: “Teddy Riner is not only a great champion and one of the best sports people in France, but also a seasoned entrepreneur, and we are very happy to be creatively collaborating through this partnership. Teddy already has many exciting ideas and we can’t wait to start supporting him in the development and production of these new sports formats.”