ITV Bosses Duck Sale Speculation During Results Call & Reveal Only One Show Is Stuck In Funding Limbo Due To American Co-Pro Freeze

deadline.com:

ITV bosses faced numerous sale rumor questions this morning but didn’t budge on the speculation, while content boss Kevin Lygo revealed only one drama is stuck in the funding limbo instigated by the American co-pro drop-off.

Reuters recently reported that ITV is in talks over merging production arm ITV Studios with RedBird IMI’s All3Media, which lit a fire under the media industry.

Unsurprisingly CEO Carolyn McCall faced numerous questions during its annual results call about the rumors as the broadcaster revealed a mixed results picture including record profits for the production arm.

McCall said you would “expect a lot of speculation” due to the current state of the market and pointed out that such speculation has also followed ITV Studios rivals such as Banijay and Fremantle, although she perhaps consciously avoided mentioning All3Media. “We won’t comment on speculation but what I would say is we will continue to build the [ITV Studios] business that has seen growth of 35%,” she added. “We’ve bought good labels and backed fantastic talent.