TBI Weekly: What an ITV acquisition of All3Media could mean for global production

The Traitors

ITV is in talks to acquire All3Media, in a deal that would transform the production and distribution landscape both in the UK and around the world. Richard Middleton explores what’s at stake.

Ever since Discovery merged with Warner Media to create Warner Bros. Discovery, the future of UK-based production firm All3Media has been in question.

It is almost a decade since Discovery picked up its 50% stake in All3 alongside Liberty Global, with the pair paying around $930m between them to private equity firm Permira in 2014.

Jane Turton (Credit: RTS/Richard Kendal)

The common denominator between Discovery and Liberty Global was, and is, media tycoon John Malone, who was one of the key voices behind Warner Bros. Discovery’s creation. Malone’s Liberty also owns a 10% stake in ITV, and with WBD seeking cash to reduce its $49bn debt pile, a deal for All3 looks to make sense for concerned parties.

But what does it mean for the UK landscape and those further afield?

UK domination

The UK is the home territory of both groups and it is here that the effects of an acquisition would be most keenly felt, by both buyers – who would find themselves with a further narrowing of companies to commission from – and staff.

There is little doubt that a combined ITVS and All3 – led by Julian Bellamy and Jane Turton, respectively – would create back-office savings and cuts on a group level, including distribution, would be likely.

On the creative front, both ITV Studios (ITVS) and All3 are already among the strongest players in the UK, and sources have suggested to TBI that one potential obstacle to combining the two companies under ITV – a broadcaster – would be rules around competition.

It’s easy to see why. On the entertainment front, ITVS’s UK arm is in evidence across broadcast networks with shows such as Eggheads for the BBC from 12 Yard Productions, but it is also a major supplier to its own network with shows such as Beat The Chasers firm Potato and Twofour, behind ITVX show Loaded In Paradise.

Many of the heavy hitters on ITV’s schedule also come from within, with shows such as Love Island and I’m A Celebrity… from Lifted Entertainment, which was until 2021 known as ITV Studios Entertainment, providing a vertically integrated environment and a virtuous circle between broadcaster and producer.

The Circle

All3, meanwhile, has powerhouses such as The Circle and Gogglebox firm Studio Lambert under its wing, as well as Great British Menu‘s Optomen and Lime Pictures, which has bases in LA as well as the UK.

There’s also fact ent firm Betty, which is behind Channel 4’s Naked Education and The Undateables. It sits under Objective Media Group, which also offers considerable firepower with labels including Tannadice Pictures and Triple Brew Media.

A combined ITVS and All3 would also provide considerable global punch on the factual front, with the latter’s powerhouse Raw behind hits including Tindler Swindler and Don’t F**k With Cats that have made it a globally recognised name.

ITVS also owns The Garden and Oxford Scientific but further bolstered its factual credentials with the 2021 acquisition of Plimsoll Productions – behind Apple TV+ show Big Beasts and Disney+’s Super/Natural – and the $126m deal has provided ITVS with a “new flank” to pursue, according to CEO Julian Bellamy in an interview with TBI earlier this year.

For All3,  the 2020 acquisition of Silverback Films gave it an immediate footing in the growing genre. The UK-based firm has been behind The Hunt, Our Planet and David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet and BBC/Discovery five-parter A Perfect Planet, as well as a raft of nature films for Disney+, including Bears, Monkey Kingdom and Penguins.

Scripted surge

There is little let-up on the scripted side, not least because ITVS’s recent strategy has been on increasing its revenues from the genre – these have already moved from being around 70/30 in favour of unscripted to around 60/40 today, and Bellamy told TBI recently the company wants to achieve parity.

ITVS’s interests include Rev., Friday Night Dinner and Cold Feet producer Big Talk Productions, while more recent deals with talent include Happy Prince (set up by Dominic Treadwell-Collins in 2019), Jeff Pope’s factual drama unit, and Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street Productions, whose output has included Nolly.

The Tourist

There is also some serious form with prolific companies such as Line Of Duty and Bodyguard outfit World Productions, Poldark prodco Mammoth Screen and Ghosts firm Monumental Television, with the latter also working on Harlots for Hulu in the US.

All3’s UK scripted interests also run deep, with Call The Midwife firm Neal Street Productions, Midsomer Murders outfit Bentley Productions and The Missing‘s Company Pictures among those under the umbrella.

Two Brothers Pictures, producer of Fleabag, The Tourist and Boat Story, is another crown jewel of the drama empire at present, while New Pictures is behind The Blue for Paramount+ and Des for ITV.

All3 also houses The Thief, His Wife And The Canoe producer Story Films, which also produces across unscripted.

European, US & RoW

While neither All3 or ITV Studios is as established outside of the UK, both have made efforts to expand, notably in scripted.

ITVS is the bigger player in European scripted and recent additions have included Tetra Media in France, Denmark’s Apple Tree Productions and Italy’s Cattleya, which is behind Django for Sky and Canal+, to its portfolio. Cattleya also recently launched a Spanish division to tap into the surging momentum of the market on the global stage.

Julian Bellamy

All3’s non-UK interests lean towards unscripted, although it recently launched a new German scripted division to be led by former Red Arrow International MD, Irina Ignatiew-Lemke.

All3Media Deutschland Fiction is based in Berlin and includes Tatort producer Filmpool Fiction, while All3Media Deutschland is home to Filmpool Entertainment, alongside Tower Productions, which had previously been a JV with BBC Studios.

Both All3 and ITVS also have considerable reach in the US, with All3Media America providing a Stateside base for firms such as Bright Spot Content, Hard North Media, Maverick, Objective and Studio Lambert.

All3’s US division also houses digital-focused Little Dot Studios, but it is ITVS that is dominant on the production front. The latter already has a strong foothold in the world’s biggest TV market with ITV America, which claims to be the country’s largest unscripted producer thanks to ITV Entertainment and output such as Queer Eye for Netflix.

The company also retains ownership of companies such as Sirens Media, High Noon Entertainment and Thinkfactory Media, but there also scripted-focused interests too.

Stakes are held in Blumhouse TV and Tomorrow Studios, a joint venture with Marty Adelstein, whose output includes Snowpiercer and Physical for Apple TV+.

Further afield, ITVS operates branded subsidiaries in Australia, France and Germany, as well as across the Nordics, as well as Israel’s Armoza Formats.

Carolyn McCall

That 2019 deal handed it a raft of rights to IP including I Can Do That and The Four, helping to bolster ITVS’s distribution catalogue further.

Indeed, while the extent of production capability detailed above is clear, if ITV does move ahead with an acquisition, its effect on distribution would be felt worldwide.

The companies’ combined catalogue would likely top 130,000 hours, with ITVS standing at around 100,000 and 30,000 hours held by All3Media International.

And the big numbers don’t end there. It would also result in ITV owning a further 50 production labels to add to the 60 or so already held by ITVS, while revenues of ITVS (£2.1bn ($2.7bn) in 2022) and All3 (£866m ($1.1bn) in 2021) would likely top £3bn.

For comparison, Fremantle is aiming to reach revenues of €3bn ($3.3bn) by 2025, while Banijay recorded €3.2bn ($3.5bn) in 2022.

And while there is “no certainty” of a deal as the UK broadcaster pointed out this morning, one thing is clear: if the acquisition does go through, it would provide a considerable gilding to a company that CEO Carolyn McCall has already described as a “crown jewel”.