ITV Ready to Fill U.S. Programming Schedules Impacted by Hollywood Strikes, but Won’t Charge Premium Prices

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV is ready to step into the breach in case of U.S. programming schedules being impacted down the line because of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. “We are hoping for a swift resolution [to the strikes]” said Julian Bellamy, MD of ITV’s production arm ITV Studios. “In terms of the broader point, one of our strengths is a strong U.K.

and international pipeline and we do have a distribution arm that offers a catalogue of 90,000 hours. So we’re in a good position to take advantage of any opportunities that arise.” “Or to just to help,” added ITV CEO Carolyn McCall. “What we’ll be doing is to see whether we can help fill their schedules.

We’re not gonna be charging premiums, by the way, we think we should be offering our customers what they [want] from our catalogue if they require it.” McCall and Bellamy were speaking during the broadcaster’s earnings call after the half-yearly financial results were declared on Thursday.

When asked about the strikes’ impact on ITV’s own schedules the executives said that 2023 would not be affected but 2024 could.