ITV Studios and Paramount Reach a Deal: What it Means for WBD’s Future
ITV leadership recently confirmed that Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) are resuming their roles as commissioners following the approval of their merger deal. With this development, Paramount-Skydance has intensified its efforts to compete with Netflix in acquiring new content.
“WB, and interestingly for us, Paramount, now that they have stability in terms of their ownership and their ambition, they’ve actually opened up business in a way they weren’t open before,” stated Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, which also manages production and sales house ITV Studios.
Julian Bellamy, head of ITV Studios, highlighted recent agreements, including the acquisition of Love & Marriage: Huntsville, currently airing on WBD-backed OWN in the United States, and the sale of the drama The Guest to Paramount. McCall noted an increased opportunity for placing content with WBD and Paramount following the merger. “We do a lot of business with WBD, and we buy from them as well as we sell to them,” she added.
ITV Addresses Censorship Concerns
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In its annual results released today, ITV reported ongoing discussions with Sky regarding the potential sale of its networks business; however, there were no significant updates on that front.
During a recent Q&A, media inquiries focused on content regulation in the UK. ITV’s content chief, Kevin Lygo, faced questions about whether the network had censored a joke regarding disgraced politician Peter Mandelson during its coverage of the Brit Awards, a topic that has gained prominence following controversies surrounding the BBC’s handling of the BAFTA Film Awards.
“There is no policy about censorship, about what people say,” Lygo clarified, asserting that the focus was primarily on eliminating swearing due to the show’s timing, which precedes the UK watershed and caters to a younger audience.
When pressed about the removed Mandelson joke, Lygo expressed uncertainty. “Was it removed? Honestly, I don’t know. I mean, the thing is, we wouldn’t take out something generally,” he said.
McCall intervened, stating, “Our principles are that you don’t take out something political. You take out swear words, because of the regulations for Ofcom… that’s what the general principle is, and that’s what we’ve had. And just remember, you talk about BAFTA, there was a two-hour gap for them. We had a five-second gap.”
Market Position and Strategic Goals
During the Q&A session, ITV executives emphasized the size of their extensive 100,000-hour content library, showcasing the growth potential of ITV Studios’ production and distribution capabilities.
McCall remarked, “It’s got to be at the right price and it’s got to be at the right time. All3 was always smaller than us, and Banijay was always bigger than us, so the combined identity is going to be bigger than us, and that’s fine. For us, the size is not as relevant as the labels and the creative talent.”
She further asserted, “We are very confident that we have scale globally… we’re not going to do something that you might say is transformative if it isn’t at the right value for ITV Studios.”
