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ITV buys Finnish prodco

MIPCOM: The UK’s ITV Studios is continuing its global transformation plan with the acquisition of the Finnish prodco behind the local version of Dragons’ Den.

Helsinki-based Tarinatalo is a 15-year-old indie that specialises in factual entertainment, reality and lifestyle programming. It makes 50 hours of programming a year, including long-running Antiques Antiques on YLE TV1.

It was also involved in coproducing the 2007 Eurovision song contest, which was held in Helsinki that year, and makes Dragons’ Den for Nelonen. It is also piloting a new gameshow called What Was That?

“Tarinatalo is a terrific fit as we progress with growing our business globally,” said Paul Buccieri, MD of ITV Studios International and president and CEO of ITV Studios America.

“It is an extremely creative production company and has built fantastic relationships with Finnish broadcasters. It not only has a wonderful portfolio of hit shows but also has a huge number of great ideas in development as well.”

The Tarinatalo team, including CEO Aram Aflatuni, will become part of ITV Studios Nordic, which also comprises recently acquired Norwegian indie Mediacircus and a Sweden-based prodco that used to be called Silverback.

ITV Studios Nordic CEO Hans Engholm said: “Just like Mediacircus, Tarinatalo has experience in creating and selling formats for the international market, which is important for us as we move towards our goal of building a strong creative business.”

The deal is further evidence that the Scandinavian production sector is hotting up, as global players like Shine Group, FremantleMedia and others buy into companies to secure their format supply lines.

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