ITV Studios


ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is based in 12 countries across 60 production labels, with local production offices in the UK, the US, Belgium, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, France, Spain, and Scandinavia.

About

ITV Studios not only makes programmes primarily for its parent company ITV plc, but also for other networks such as the BBC and Channel 4. It was formed from a gradual amalgamation of the production divisions of all ITV plc owned 'Channel 3' licensees which occurred from 1994 to 2004, and for a number of years thereafter following the creation of ITV plc.
The division is also responsible for ITV's production facilities The London Studios, 3SixtyMedia, and location hire company ProVision. ITV Studios Global Entertainment is responsible for sales of finished programmes, formats and commercial licensing deals.

History

Granada Media

ITV Studios Limited's history can be traced back to Granada Productions, which was founded in 1954 as Granada Television's in-house production arm.

Carlton International

Central Television Enterprises, Central Independent Television's international sales operations founded in 1987. Central Television Enterprises was later acquired by Carlton Communications in 1994 when they purchased Central, renaming the company as CTE Limited. In March 1998, CTE was renamed as Carlton International Media Limited.

ITV Studios

Granada plc purchased Carlton Communications and renamed itself ITV plc in 2004, the international division of Granada plc was folded into Carlton International, which assumed the name of Granada International. Meanwhile, Carlton's TV unit was folded into Granada's but retained the "Granada Media Group" name. In March 2004, Action Time, the Carlton-owned format distributor for game shows which before the merger had operated as a semi-independent company, was folded into Granada's operations and the name was retired.
In January 2006, the company assumed the name "ITV Productions" for all produced shows airing on ITV networks, while the Granada name was retained on shows that aired on non-ITV channels, such as Channel 4's Countdown, University Challenge and The Royle Family for the BBC. However, Welsh programmes would always retain the "ITV Cymru" brand. Granada Media Group Limited was renamed ITV Productions Limited in December 2006.
In December 2007, ITV Productions announced that they had acquired British production company behind entertainment formats 12 Yard, marking their first acquisition.
In February 2008, ITV announced that they would wind up the Granada brand and merge Granada International and Granada Ventures into a then-unnamed business.
Some of ITV Studios' subsidiaries, such as ITV Studios Australia, would also retire the Granada name in 2013.
In May 2008, ITV Productions announced that they had acquired Swedish-based Scandinavian independent television production company Silverback.
On 17 November 2009, the company announced that they would split its main production arm into four separate departments for factual, entertainment, daytime and scripted.
In July 2012, ITV Studios announced that they had expanded their operations into Norway by acquiring Norwegian production company Mediacircus.
In August 2012, ITV Studios announced that they had acquired Graham Norton's independent comedy entertainment production company So Television.
In July 2013, ITV Studios announced that they had acquired production company Big Talk Productions with ITV Studios global distribution arm ITV Studios Global Entertainment taking over Big Talk's programmes worldwide.
In June 2015, ITV Studios announced that they had acquired the remaining 75% stake in British television production company Mammoth Screen. Later, that same month ITV Studios announced that they had bought Twofour Group.
In May 2017, ITV plc acquired production company World Productions. As a result of the takeover, the company became a part of ITV Studios, with ITV Studios Global Entertainment handling international distribution of future series. That same year, ITV Studios also acquired Swedish game show and entertainment programming producer Elk Production, a stake in Danish drama producer Apple Tree Productions, founded by former DR Drama Deputy Head Lars Hermann and Piv Bernth who had both left public broadcaster DR, Cattleya is also a partner in Vision Distribution, an Italian film distribution company founded in 2016 with Sky Italia, Wildside, Lucisano Media Group, Palomar and Indiana Production.
In April 2017, American horror film production company Blumhouse Productions sold a 45% stake in their independent television studio Blumhouse Television to ITV. Blumhouse is known for their globally successful films such as Paranormal Activity and Insidious.
In June 2017, ITV Studios announced that they had acquired Swedish production company Elk Production.
In October 2017, ITV Studios announced that they had acquired a majority stake in Italian film and television production company Cattleya, which is well known for producing the 2015 crime film Suburra and the 2017 RAI/Netflix television series co-production that serves as a prequel to it.
In December 2017, ITV Studios announced that they had acquired a 25% stake in Danish scripted production company Apple Tree Productions with ITV Studios' distribution division ITV Studios Global Entertainment will exclusively distribute Apple Tree's shows internationally. Four years later, in March 2021, ITV Studios announced that they were increasing their stake in Danish scripted production company Apple Tree Productions by taking major control to a 51% majority stake.
On 1 October 2019, ITV Studios restructured their entire distribution business. The Creative Network division, led by Mike Beale, consists of all of ITVS' unscripted format labels in and outside the United Kingdom, including recently acquired Israeli company Armoza Formats. The Global Entertainment division, based in the Netherlands, focuses on international sales of ITVS' unscripted formats. As a result, Talpa Media became defunct while Talpa Global was absorbed into the Global Entertainment division. The Global Distribution division will handle ITVS' drama and finished-tape catalogue as well as co-financing, co-production and production of scripted series.
On 1 July 2020, ITV Studios announced a music partnership with BMG Rights Management, which includes a joint venture production music label.
In March 2021, ITV Studios announced that they had rebranded their division ITV Studios Entertainment to Lifted Entertainment, with Syco Entertainment creative director and executive producer Lee McNicholas joining the rebranded label.
On 28 April 2021, ITV Studios expanded into Spain with the launch of Cattleya Producciones, an offshoot of their Italian subsidiary Cattleya.
In July 2024, ITV Studios acquired a majority stake in Hartswood Films. ITV will also handle worldwide distribution of their future shows. In the same month, ITV sold their 45% stake in Blumhouse Television back to Blumhouse.
In October 2024, ITV Studios acquired a majority stake in British production company Eagle Eye Drama, along with its Belgian-based production company Happy Duck Films, which globally distributes Eagle Eye's programmes globally with Channel 4's Growth Fund, dropping their 25% stake, whilst ITV Studios will handle distribution of Eagle Eye's future programmes.
On 23 November 2024, Sky News reported that CVC Capital Partners, TF1, RedBird Capital Partners, All3Media, Mediawan and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts had been linked to a potential takeover bid for ITV plc and a possible break-up of core assets such as ITV Studios and ITVX.
On 30 January 2025, Reuters reported that RedBird IMI were in early-stage talks with ITV plc to merge the All3Media and ITV Studios production businesses.

Output

ITV Studios is a major commercial TV producer in the UK, creating over 3,500 hours of original programming each year across all genres except news. Its network programmes include, or have included, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Agatha Christie's Marple and Agatha Christie's Poirot, Brainiac: Science Abuse, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Parkinson, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Tonight, The Jeremy Kyle Show and This Morning.
ITV Studios also produces programmes for other UK broadcasters outside of its own network. These include the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. ITV Studios is based in London and Manchester, with the centre in Leeds now only home to Emmerdale and Multistory Media. The production centres in Bristol and Norwich closed in 2006 and 2012 respectively. ITV Studios also owns So Television after acquiring Graham Norton's production company in 2012. On 22 April 2013, ITV announced they had acquired production company The Garden for £18 million; it is best known for producing Channel 4 series 24 Hours in A&E. In 2013, ITV launched a new production company named Potato. 2016 saw ITV Studios secure a four-year British horse racing deal which saw the Cheltenham Festival, Grand National and Royal Ascot all be shown on ITV.
On 14 January 2013, the ITV logo was added to the opening credits of the majority of ITV Studios-produced shows airing on ITV's channels, similar to the BBC.

Production franchises of ITV Studios

In 2004, a duopoly had formed, and Granada owned six franchises, whilst Carlton Communications owned five. Granada bought a 64% controlling stake and took over Carlton in 2004 with the amalgamation of ITV. Consequently, programmes produced by all divisions were referred to as 'A Granada Manchester Production', 'A Granada London Production', etc., at the end of credits. ITV Studios comprises the network production divisions from its following predecessor companies:
ITV Border and ITV Westcountry rarely contributed network programmes, so were largely unaffected by the creation of ITV Studios except for the closure of their local news studios. Whilst continuing to present local programming, these are produced from Gateshead and Bristol respectively.