By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Broadcaster ITV has confirmed it is “actively exploring” an acquisition of Traitors producers All3Media.
It follows reports the TV channel was seeking to buy the production company from its joint owners Warner Bros Discovery Inc., which is facing a debt issue, and Liberty Global.
The business would be combined with ITV’s Studios unit, according to Reuters, in a deal said to be valued at above £1bn.
An ITV spokesperson said: “ITV plc notes the recent media speculation and confirms that it is actively exploring the possible acquisition of All3Media.
“There can be no certainty as to whether any transaction will take place, nor as to the terms of any such transaction. A further announcement will be made if and when appropriate.”
All3Media, Britain’s largest independent TV producer announced it was seeking a buyer last month, with bankers at JP Morgan running an auction, per the Telegraph.
The firm, composed of dozens of smaller production houses, was responsible for the BBC’s recent hit game show The Traitors, which was sold in 20 countries, as well as ITV’s mini-series The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, and Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.
Liberty Global is a telecoms operator behind Virgin Media O2, while Warner Bros Discovery is the sweeping showbiz superpower responsible for Succession, CNN and BT Sport.
ITV has faced turbulence in recent weeks after former presenter and This Morning host Phillip Schofield, 61, resigned from the broadcaster after admitting to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague on the show.
ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall told MPs this week the affair was “deeply inappropriate” but leadership were “repeatedly told nothing was happening”.
