ITV’s Britbox stake sold to BBC for £255m

ITV has sold its 50pc stake in the Britbox international streaming service to BBC studios for £255m.

The subscription service shows British programmes including Death in Paradise, shetland and Line of Duty to viewers in the Us, Canada, Australia, south Africa, Denmark, Finland, Norway and sweden. it was a 50:50 joint venture but now BBC studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, is the sole owner.

Proceeds from the sale will be around £235m after loan repayments and tax.

This cash will be returned to ITV’s investors through a share buyback, which will be launched ‘imminently’ after its annual results are published next week.

ITV boss Carolyn McCall ( pictured) said the sale leaves the company ‘focused on its core strategic goals’ of growing its advertiser-funded streaming service, ITV X, and its studios division. And ITV studios will still receive an ongoing revenue stream under new licensing agreements. the Britbox service aimed at UK users is not affected by the deal.

Britbox has garnered a subscriber base of 3.8m since its launch in 2017.

BBC studios boss tom Fussell said: ‘this is an important acquisition for us.

‘We are taking full ownership of a successful, growing service we know well and that fits with our stated ambition to double the size of our business.’ ITV shares have been languishing close to the lowest level for 13 years. Yesterday, they soared 14.3pc.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘the move cements what has been a disappointing Britbox journey for the group. the decision will help to streamline ITV’s focus as it continues with efforts to offset the structural decline in broadcast with ITV X and the studios business.

‘There are a lot of the right ideas circulating, and this cash injection will help to steady the ship, but there isn’t quite enough proof in this pudding yet.’

The broadcaster behind Love island and I’m A Celebrity... Get Me out of here! will update shareholders on its performance for 2023 on thursday.

ITV is hoping its advertising performance improved in the final half of last year but it is still expected to post depleted annual advertising revenues after TV viewers switched to streaming platforms.