UK’s ITV confirms it is looking to buy All3Media in potential $1.3bn deal

All3Media International’s catalogue includes reality TV series The Traitors

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has confirmed it is “actively exploring” the possible acquisition of international production and distribution giant All3Media from Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and Liberty Global.

In a response to recent media speculation about the deal for The Traitors distributor All3Media, ITV said “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, ITV added.

It comes after reports emerged earlier this month that 50-50 joint owners WBD and Liberty Global were exploring the sale of All3Media.

This included potentially buying out the other’s stake, which now looks to be off the table as ITV circles the UK-based production and distribution giant in a deal said to be worth around £1bn (US$1.26bn).

All3Media is the parent to more than 50 production companies including Studio Lambert, Objective Media Group, Silverback Films and Lime Pictures, with a footprint across the UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and New Zealand.

ITV Studios (ITVS) already owns more than 60 production labels with a footprint that spans 13 countries including the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, the Nordics, Italy and the Netherlands.

The deal, should it happen, would mark the latest phase of consolidation in the international TV industry during a turbulent period. It comes after ITVS and All3Media’s fellow production and distribution giants Banijay and Endemol Shine merged, resulting in job losses on both sides and a global scripted and unscripted powerhouse in Banijay Group.

All3Media International has a catalogue of more than 30,000 hours of content and sells formats including The Traitors and Gogglebox, which would add considerable heft to ITV Studios Global Distribution’s already large library of over 90,000 hours of scripted and unscripted programming.

All3Media, led by CEO Jane Turton, said it had its biggest year in 2021, posting £866.6m in revenue.

The move to sell All3Media comes nine years after Discovery and Liberty Global acquired the company in a joint-venture deal valued at around US$930m at the time.

Rumours that it would be sold off started as soon as the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery was first announced.

That is partly due to the fact WarnerMedia already has significant production and distribution assets and also because of WBD’s huge debt pile, which stands at around US$49bn.