ITV sells 50% BritBox International stake to BBC Studios

UK broadcaster ITV has sold its entire 50% interest in streamer BritBox International to its joint venture partner BBC Studios for £255 million in cash.

ITV said the sale was in line with its strategy of focusing on supercharging its UK advertiser-funded streaming service, ITVX and growing its global Studios division.  The ITV board intends to return the entire net sale proceeds to shareholders through a share buyback that it expects to launch immediately after its full year results on March 7.

ITV Studios will continue to receive an ongoing revenue stream from BritBox International similar to current levels for the use of ITV content under new extended licensing agreements.

BritBox UK is unaffected and will still feature BBC content as part of separate long-term agreements.

ITV said the net proceeds from the deal transaction including loan repayments and accrued dividends and after tax will be around £235 million.

Carolyn McCall, ITV CEO said: “The sale of 50% of BritBox International means ITV is focused on its core strategic goals of continuing to build on ITVX’s success and growing ITV Studios. I would like to thank the BritBox International team for making the company such a success and particularly CEO Reemah Sakaan for her leadership, drive and vision.”

The acquisition is believed to be BBC Studios’ largest to date. The integration of the streamer into the BBC’s commercial arm means that current CEO Sakaan will leave the business.

Tom Fussell, BBC Studios CEO said: “This is an important acquisition for us. We are taking full ownership of a successful, growing service we know well and that fits with our stated ambition to double the size of our business. Britbox International has British content at its heart and it generates and satisfies demand for British shows outside the UK. We will continue to make significant investments in the future to deliver long term value to the BBC. I’d like to thank Reemah for her outstanding contribution to BritBox International, which under her stewardship has seen remarkable year-on-year growth.”

ITV’s brand refresh

Separately, ITV has unveiled a brand refresh, which it says is designed to reflect its three strategic pillars of an expanding Studios business, supercharging streaming and optimising broadcast.

the brand refresh sees the overall group brand for ITV embrace new logo colours.

ITV Creative and DixonBaxi partnered to create the updated logo colours and typographic style.

ITVX celebrated its biggest ever month in January with 328m streams, with the service reaching 3.6 billion streams since launch.

ITV Studios’ global footprint spans 60 production labels across 13 countries and its global distribution business sells its catalogue of over 90,000 hours to broadcasters and platforms internationally

Jane Stiller, ITV chief marketing officer, said: “Brilliant content and creativity sit at the heart of everything ITV does, and the refreshed Group Brand acts as a more vibrant and contemporary embodiment of this.”