Sky Studios has announced it has acquired a 24.9% stake in True to Nature (TTN), the natural history production company.
This is the first investment Sky Studios has made, which is part of Sky’s plan to invest in more than double the original content across a range of genres over the next five years.
Founded in 2016 by Dr Wendy Drake, former head of the BBC natural history unit, TTN has produced a range of natural history series, including Dave’s ten-part series Expedition and BBC’s Undiscovered World with Steve Backshall.
Other productions from this year include Planet of Volcanoes and five-part series Gangs of Lemur Island.
Drake, who is also CEO of TTN, emphasised the importance the natural world plays in the work they create, commenting: “We want to use storytelling to build lifelong relationships between viewers and the natural world.
“Our new and exciting creative partnership with Sky Studios feels like the natural next step to continue to realise our ambitions for True to Nature and we’re looking forward to making our dreams, reality.”
Gary Davey, CEO at Sky Studios said: “The content coming out of True to Nature has blown us away.
“Viewers have never been more interested in the natural world than they are today and all of us at Sky Studios can’t wait to work with Wendy and the team to see what we can create together.”
The acquisition will allow TTN to work closely with Sky Studios in developing content to be distributed on Sky platforms while still retaining full creative independence.