Tern Television Productions

What Tern Television Productions does

Tern Television Productions is a Scotland-headquartered independent television production company, founded in 2003 and operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zinc Media Group Plc (registered in Edinburgh). The company produces factual, specialist factual, documentary and popular factual programming, with a portfolio that spans long-running BBC strands (Songs of Praise, Beechgrove Garden), Channel 4 commissions (The Celebrity Inner Circle, Britain at Low Tide, The Auctioneers), ITV programming (Wildlife Patrol), and Sky/Discovery/National Geographic/UKTV/PBS output. Its slate covers an unusually broad range of sub-genres including history, archaeology, science, nature, crime, travel, gardening, food, health, religion, social issues and adventure, often fronted by high-profile presenters such as Ben Fogle, Jeremy Paxman, Nicholas Crane, Amanda Holden and Martin Compston.

The company's underlying 'technology' is conventional broadcast production craft: development, filming, post-production and delivery of television programmes to broadcaster specifications. No proprietary software platforms, APIs, or technical infrastructure products are disclosed; the core assets are creative IP, presenter relationships, production workflows, and an award-winning back catalogue. The website and marketing presence are limited to terntv.com plus standard social channels (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram), consistent with a B2B commissioning model rather than a consumer platform.

Commercially, Tern operates a professional-services revenue model: it secures programme commissions from broadcasters and delivers them for production fees, with pricing negotiated per commission rather than through standardised product pricing. Customer relationships are concentrated among a small set of UK public service broadcasters and their commercial counterparts, supplemented by funding from regional bodies (Northern Ireland Screen's Ulster Scots Broadcast Fund, Scottish Screen/National Lottery) and, more recently, non-broadcast partners (LinkedIn Live Events, Department for Business & Trade). The company operates two production offices — Glasgow (head office region) and Belfast — and has no disclosed headcount or standalone revenue figures.

Name

Tern Television Productions

Legal name

Zinc Media Group Plc

Website

https://terntv.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Tern Television Productions is a Scotland-based independent television production company, wholly owned by Zinc Media Group Plc, that creates documentary, specialist factual and popular factual programming for major UK broadcasters including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky, with additional production operations in Belfast and emerging distribution via LinkedIn Live Events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Television Production Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts & Culture Documentaries (MPADADAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Business, Politics & Current Affairs Documentaries (MPADADAJ)

Keywords

• Television production services
• Documentary production
• Factual programming
• Broadcast commissions
• TV content production

Headquarters

HQ city

Aberdeen

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Television Production and Broadcasting: Tern Television Productions generates revenue by producing television programmes for UK and international broadcasters. The company creates content across documentary, specialist factual, and popular factual categories, securing commissions from broadcasters such as BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Discovery, National Geographic, UKTV, and others. Revenue is derived from programme commissions and production fees.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tern Television Productions is a Scottish independent television production company that develops, produces, and supplies documentary, specialist factual, and popular factual programming for major UK and international broadcasters including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Discovery, National Geographic, UKTV, and PBS. The company produces content across genres such as history, science, nature, travel, gardening, lifestyle, food, crime, and social issues, securing commissions through broadcast deals and production contracts.

Product overview

Tern Television Productions is a television production company that creates factual, documentary, and popular factual programming primarily for UK broadcasters. The company produces a diverse portfolio of television programs across multiple genres including documentaries (such as historical, wildlife, and investigative pieces), specialist factual programming (gardening, crime, science), popular factual/entertainment shows, and arts/culture series. The core product is television production services for broadcasters including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, and others, delivered through individual program productions rather than a unified software platform. Key program brands include the Beechgrove Garden franchise, the Grand Tours series, The Inner Circle quiz show, and numerous one-off documentaries and documentary series.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Beechgrove Garden (franchise)
• Dr Xand's Con or Cure
• The Celebrity Inner Circle
• Martin Compston's Scottish Fling / Norwegian Fling
• Wildlife Patrol
• Songs of Praise
• Britain at Low Tide
• The Harbour
• Dolly: The Sheep That Changed the World
• Big in America
• Grand Tours of Scotland's Rivers / Lochs
• KNTV
• Jailed: Women in Prison
• Donald Campbell: Speed King
• The Father, the Son & the Housekeeper

Named customers6 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered key and notable.

• Department for Business & Trade (DBT)keyStrategic or Co-development PartnerTern Television has developed a partnership with the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) for the production of 'Big in America' series, which is being distributed via LinkedIn Live Events as part of a global professional community initiative.
• LinkedInnotableGTM or Marketing PartnerLinkedIn has partnered with Tern Television and DBT to stream the 'Big in America' series via LinkedIn Live Events solution. This represents LinkedIn's first external channel partnership for exclusive 'made-for-TV' content series.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/terntelevision
• Facebookfacebook.com/terntv
• Instagraminstagram.com/terntv

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tern Television Productions