International Insider: Unpacking The BritBox Deal; London TV Screenings Round-Up; Disney’s India Pact
01.03.2024 - 14:59
/ deadline.com
Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock with you in London, where the TV world has decamped this week for a series of screenings. Read on, and sign up for the newsletter here.
Unpacking The BritBox Deal & London TV Screenings
Beeb bags BritBox: As we expected, the big news in international entertainment came out of London this week. However, while we were assuming the biggest deal would be a program package emerging from the London TV Screenings (more on that below), BBC Studios and ITV surprised everyone this morning with some tasty M&A. A regulatory statement to the London Stock Exchange revealed the BBC’s commercial arm had paid £255M ($322M) to acquire ITV’s 50% shareholding in their joint venture, best-of-British streamer BritBox International. This, we hear, is the biggest single transaction in BBC Studios’ history and marks a new direction for the seven-year old streamer, which is profitable and has around 3.75 million subscribers across eight territories, including the U.S. and Canada. A few more facts: BritBox International’s much-liked CEO, Reemah Sakaan, will exit following the deal. She was based at ITV, and BBC Studios announced “new leadership” has been identified. Sakaan will remain with BritBox through a transition period, and it sounds like a respectful parting of ways. “Reemah did a great job with BritBox and she’ll be back before you know it,” said one source close to the streamer. Producers immediately reached out to us concerned that her departure could lead to a drop in commissions — with UK networks cash-strapped many have found strong support from BritBox International’s originals team in the recent past. Just last month, we revealed BritBox was co-producing Agatha Christie series Towards Zero,
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