51 Minds Entertainment

51 Minds Entertainment (or Fifty One Minds Entertainment) is a production company specializing in reality TV, known for their "celebreality" programs on VH1.^[2][3] It was created in 2004 as a merger between Cris Abrego's 51 Pictures (formerly Brass Ring Entertainment) and Mark Cronin's Mindless Entertainment. In 2005, the company signed a two-year, seven series production deal with VH1.^[4] The company has been credited in helping revive VH1 ratings during this time.^[5] In 2008, the company was purchased by Endemol (later Endemol Shine Group, now Banijay Entertainment).^[1]

51 Minds Entertainment

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Television
Genre	Reality television
Predecessor	51 Pictures Mindless Entertainment
Founded	2004; 21 years ago (2004)
Founders	Cris Abrego Mark Cronin
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California , United States
Key people	Cris Abrego Mark Cronin
Products	Flavor of Love Below Deck
Number of employees	200+ (2008)
Parent	Endemol USA (2008–2015) Endemol Shine North America (2015–present)
Website	51minds.com
Footnotes / references [1]

In 2010, the company branched out in Internet distributed programming, producing The Tester for the PlayStation Network.^[6] Other popular shows include Below Deck and their franchises on the NBCUniversal network Bravo.

References

1. Adalian, Josef (2008-04-01). "Endemol lands reality house". Variety. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
2. Keveney, Bill (4 August 2006). "It's Flavor's time to shine ; Rapper looks for love; genre finds success". Life. USA Today. p. E.10. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
3. Lafayette, Jon (5 November 2007). "Outrageous Folks Fuel 51 Minds' Ideas; Building on VH1 Success, Producers Look to Broadcast Nets". News. Television Week. 26 (41): 4. Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
4. Martin, Denise (12 July 2005). "VH1 makes 'Surreal' deal; Cabler pacts with 'Life' producers for series". Variety. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
5. Elber, Lynn (4 October 2007). "At VH1, Two Reality Producers Rule". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
6. Snider, Mike (5 March 2010). "Have a PlayStation? You can watch 'The Tester' ; Reality series is available only on consoles". USA Today. p. D.12. Retrieved 10 October 2010.