Mediawan Thematics (formerly known as AB Groupe) is a French television channel business and audiovisual distribution group in the field of broadcasting that is owned by Mediawan.
History
Mediawan Thematics had its roots under the name of AB Productions which it was founded in 1977 by Jean-Luc Azoulay and Claude Berda as a music production company, and in 1987 went into the world of television.
In 1991, AB Productions created their own music record publishing label named AB Disques who had published their own music videos.
In December 1995, AB Groupe launched their first television channel named AB Channel 1 (now AB1).
In July 1996, AB Productions announced that they've expanded their catalogue by acquiring Pierre Grimblat's French production company Hamster Productions and its parent company The Hamster Group which had merged with AB Productions to become the biggest French television production company with Hamster Productions becoming a subsidiary of AB Productions.[1]
In July 1999, AB Productions announced that their co-founders Jean-Luc Azoulay and Claude Berda had professionally separated and had split the AB Productions company into two companies.
In late-January 2016, AB Groupe announced that they've acquired Pascale Breugnot's production company Ego Productions.[2]