5th Dec 2007 09:31
ITV PLC05 December 2007 5th December 2007 ITV plc acquires independent producers 12 Yard First acquisition for Global Content Division as part of strategy for growth ITV plc ("ITV") announced today that it has acquired the independent producer 12Yard ("12 Yard" or "the business"), a joint venture between Hat-TrickProductions Limited and the management team of David Young and Andy Culpin. ITV will pay an initial cash consideration of £26 million. A further payment ofup to £9 million may be made in 2011, part of which is contingent on profitperformance over a three-year period. 12 Yard is one of the leading format creators and producers in the UK. Thecompany was formed in 2001 by the team behind the BBC hits 'Weakest Link', 'DogEat Dog' and 'Friends Like These'. The team has continued to create and produceinnovative entertainment, quiz, game and factual formats and own theintellectual property rights behind hit shows such as 'In It To Win It', 'Eggheads' 'Who Dares Wins', 'The Great British Village Show', and theinternational Emmy winning 'Without Prejudice?'. 12 Yard formats have enjoyed huge success both here and abroad with format salesin all the major international territories including USA, Australia, Germany,France, Netherlands and Spain. The acquisition gives ITV immediate access to growth in the profitable gameshowformat market with significant opportunity for secondary exploitation. Inaddition, Granada International will become the sole international distributorfor 12 Yard programming. On 12th September 2007 ITV announced its content-led growth plan, including anew strategy to accelerate growth through the acquisition of complementaryproduction business in high value genres with strong secondary sales potential. Dawn Airey, Managing Director of ITV Global Content said: "We are delighted that 12 Yard is ITV's first acquisition since the announcementof our growth strategy, and I look forward to making further announcements indue course. David and his team have built an iconic hit machine that willcontinue to produce great shows for all its clients, but now as part of the ITVfamily." David Young, Managing Director of 12 Yard said: "We are immensely proud to be teaming up with Dawn Airey and the ITV GlobalContent Division. ITV is the biggest commercial shop window in UK broadcasting.At a time when the demand for global hit formats is greater than ever, AndyCulpin and I believe that this new home can help establish the company as one ofthe leading creators and producers of entertainment formats across the world." ITV plcTel: 0844 8818000 Press enquiriesJim Godfrey - Director of Corporate Affairs Investor enquiriesGeorgina Blackburn - Head of Investor Relations Tulchan CommunicationsTel: 0207 353 4200 Andrew GrantSusannah VoyleDavid Allchurch Website: www.itv.com; investor information: www.itvplc.com ITV Global Content Led by Dawn Airey, ITV Global Content is ITV's content division bringingtogether all of ITV's UK and international production and content businesses. ITV Productions is one of Europe's leading commercial production companiesproducing more than 3,000 hours of original programming each year. It isresponsible for some of the most popular brands on UK television includingCoronation Street, Emmerdale, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Dancing onIce and Prime Suspect. It also produces highly-rated work for other channelssuch as The Street and The Royle Family for the BBC, Brainiac for Sky andCountdown and Longford for Channel 4. ITV Productions also made the successful,critically-acclaimed and Oscar winning feature film of 2006, The Queen. ITV Worldwide is made up of Granada International, Granada Ventures andinternational production centres in America, Germany and Australia. GranadaInternational sells thousands of hours of programming from ITV Productions, andmany other independent producers, to more than 200 countries worldwide. GranadaVentures is a major distributor of DVD entertainment in the UK and exploitsmerchandising and licensing in the UK and worldwide from both ITV Productions'bank of television programmes and other independent rights owners. ITV owns a 25% equity holding in independent producer Mammoth and exclusivedistribution and development rights. Through Granada USA ITV owns a controlling51% stake in US production company Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment LLC. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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