Advanced Television

ITV buying Australian studio?

February 26, 2020

By Chris Forrester

UK commercial broadcaster ITV is looking to buy Seven Studios, currently part of SevenWest Media, best known for its long-running soap opera Home and Away and the My Kitchen Rules competitive cooking show.

ITV, however, according to a report in Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, is not alone in along in eyeing the studio, with Disney and Comcast’s NBC Universal also touted as potential suitors.

Seven Studios is headed up by Therese Hegarty and has a number of international divisions, including Seven Studios UK and 7Beyond in the US. Seven has an overall debt burden of some A$541 million (€326.4m).

A report on the activity by investment bankers Deutsche Bank says SevenWest could still withdraw from the sale process, so the probability of an acquisition by ITV still looks low. The bank adds that SevenWest creates local content for the Australian television network, and also makes shows for other platforms, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

ITV reports its Q4 results on March 5th.

Categories: Articles, Business, M&A