Lionsgate Launches Alternative TV Division Headed by Craig Piligian

Etan Vlessing
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Lionsgate is expanding in unscripted TV programming by launching an alternative TV division led by Craig Piligian.

Lionsgate Alternative Television will encompass the studio’s unscripted TV brands like Pilgrim Media Group, Blackfin, Renegade, Daisybeck Studios and more recently Entertainment One after the acquisition of key film and TV assets from Hasbro.

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Piligian, the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer, becomes managing director of the new division that has unscripted franchises like Naked and Afraid, Street Outlaws, Wicked Tuna, The Yorkshire Vet, Ex on the Beach, Selling Sunset and MILF Manor. Lionsgate’s unscripted TV output includes limited series like Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre.

The management team at Lionsgate Alternative Television also includes Pilgrim Media Group president and COO Gretchen Stockdale and top Renegade execs David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe. Former History Channel and Half Yard Productions exec Dirk Hoogstra joins Lionsgate to lead the eOne U.S. label, while Lionsgate Alternative Television will also work with the eOne Canada team led by Jocelyn Hamilton.

“The launch of Lionsgate Alternative Television marks another key milestone in the expansion of our global television footprint,” Lionsgate Television Group Chairman and chief creative officer Kevin Beggs said in a statement.

“I am thrilled to announce Lionsgate Alternative Television’s extraordinary management team, comprised of the most influential non-scripted producers working in our industry today,” said Piligian in his own statement as he looks to build a major indie unscripted producer for the global market tied to the Hollywood studio.

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