ITV plc acquires Scandinavian independent producer Silverback
ITV plc announced today that it has acquired the Swedish-based independent production company and programme formats business Silverback AB.
The deal is consistent with ITV’s strategy to grow its production, format creation and distribution businesses in key international territories in order to help achieve the objective of doubling Global Content revenues by 2012.
ITV will pay a cash consideration of £5.2m. A further payment of a maximum of £8.8 million is contingent on profit performance over a three-year period.
The deal gives ITV the exclusive international rights (outside the Nordic territories) to all content, formats and series developed by Silverback. Silverback's sales team also joins ITV with immediate effect, following the stated goal of ITV’s sales, licensing and distribution division, ITV Worldwide, of becoming a leader in the global distribution of formats.
In turn, Silverback acquires the right to produce or sell ITV-owned formats in the Nordic territories in the same way as has been successfully achieved by ITV’s other wholly-owned production assets in the US, Germany and Australia.
The intention is that Silverback will expand its production capabilities beyond Sweden into other Scandinavian countries in due course.
Announcing the acquisition of Silverback, ITV’s Interim Managing Director of Global Content, Lee Bartlett, said: “Acquiring Silverback adds value to ITV from day one. The UK, Scandinavia and the US are among the leading exporters of television formats. With this deal we now have a presence in all three major territories and a growing and significant international formats business.
“Equally importantly, it brings into the ITV family an outstanding creative talent in the form of Anna Carrfors Bråkenhielm, who has had tremendous success developing and producing innovative programming that resonates all around the world on both TV and cross media platforms. We’re delighted to welcome Anna and her team into the fold.”
Silverback CEO Anna Carrfors Bråckenhielm said: “I’m tremendously excited about our new partnership with ITV. It gives Silverback’s formats unique access to Britain’s biggest commercial channel. Plugging into the ITV’s sales and distribution network will also help establish Silverback as one of the leading creators and producers of entertainment formats across the world. The deal is a perfect fit.”
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For further enquiries please contact:
ITV plc
Andrew Sholl – Head of Press, ITV Global Content
Tel: +44 (0) 84488 18293 or +44 (0) 7736 364 656
andrew.sholl@itv.com
Silverback
Jonas Linnander-Manfred – Silverback
Tel: +46 70 20 25 244
jonas@silverback.se
ITV Global Content
ITV Global Content is ITV plc’s content division, bringing together all of ITV’s UK and international production and distribution businesses: ITV Productions, ITV Worldwide (the soon-to-be-merged Granada International and Granada Ventures) and international production companies in the US, Germany and Australia. In 2007 ITVGC acquired outright entertainment quiz format producer 12 Yard as well as equity stakes in UK and US drama producers Mammoth Screen and Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment respectively. ITV’s hit formats include Hell’s Kitchen, Dancing on Ice, Come Dine With Me and Saturday Night Takeaway. It sells to more than 3500 buyers, including broadcasters, home entertainment partners and new media companies, in over 255 territories worldwide.
About Silverback
Silverback is a true content company focusing on developing and producing strong international formats for TV and cross-media platforms. Originally founded as Talpa Scandinavia, the company parted from Dutch media mogul John de Mol's Talpa Media Holding after a management buy-out in May 2007. In addition to its strong commitment to new creative ideas for television, Silverback is representing the founders of Skype's new project, JOOST, in Scandinavia.
Anna Carrfors Bråkenhielm is one of the most renowned TV executives in Scandinavia, recognised as the first in the world to produce "Survivor." She headed Modern Times Group's production company, Strix Television, for over a decade and made it the most profitable and successful company in Scandinavia, placing its formats in over 72 countries around the world.
Silverback's most recent international formats include: Missing Link, Office Nightmare, Prospect Dads, Stable Stars, West End Star, Stars on Air, Trucker – King of the Road, The Gone Show, Where the Hell is my Band and God Bless Jew Allah.