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ITV buys Dutch producers Talpa Media

ITV agrees to acquire Talpa Media, the company behind The Voice, The Voice Kids, Utopia, and Dating In The Dark

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ITV has agreed to acquire Talpa Media B.V., the company behind The Voice, The Voice Kids, Utopia, and Dating In The Dark for an initial payment of $688 million, as part of a full payment around $1.5B.

Established by Big Brother creator John de Mol, the Netherlands based business, is focused on developing new formats, having created 75 shows airing in more than 180 countries, with 16 new formats broadcast last year.

Other hits include game show I Love My Country, which has been sold to 26 countries; Dating in the Dark, aired in 24 countries; game shows Divided and Battle of the Sexes as well as Utopia.

John de Mol, together with his senior management and creatives, will continue to play a key role in format creation and development to maintain Talpa’s strong creative pipeline, working exclusively for Talpa alongside ITV Studios Managing Director Kevin Lygo and his team.

Adam Crozier, Chief Executive of ITV, said: “Great content is at the heart of ITV’s growth strategy and the acquisition of Talpa builds on the success of our international content business and is absolutely in line with our desire to create and own formats that travel. John de Mol and his team have an incredible track record of doing that consistently over many years and I’m delighted to welcome them to the ITV family. This is a great opportunity for ITV to accelerate its progress in building a global content business of scale.”

John de Mol said: “Of all the potential partners for Talpa, there’s no doubt ITV is the best fit. When it comes to the importance of content, the strategy of both successful companies is exactly the same and for Talpa this represents a fantastic opportunity for strong further growth. It also enables me personally to concentrate and focus even more on creating new, groundbreaking content.”

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