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The Traitors producer All3Media goes up for sale for £1bn-plus

The Traitors tv show - Paul Chappells
The Traitors tv show - Paul Chappells

Britain’s biggest independent television producer is going up for sale for an estimated £1bn-plus as its joint owners grapple with a tougher phase of the streaming revolution.

Bankers at JP Morgan have been called in to run an auction of All3Media, The Telegraph can reveal.

The company, which is a collection of dozens of production houses, is behind the BBC’s hit game show The Traitors, as well as ITV’s mini-series The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, and Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.

Plans are at an early stage, City sources cautioned, and could yet change in light of bumpy economic conditions and tighter money markets.

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All3Media is the biggest British producer independent of a broadcaster and has significant businesses in the United States and on the Continent.

It is expected to draw interest from strategic bidders including ITV and the French giant Banijay. Private equity firms could also make an approach.

All3Media is jointly owned by Liberty Global, one of the telecoms operators behind Virgin Media O2, and Warner Bros Discovery, the sprawling entertainment empire responsible for Succession, CNN and BT Sport.

Both count the 82-year-old Colorado-based billionaire John Malone, the “Cable Cowboy”, as a major investor.

Liberty Media Corp. chairman John Malone - REUTERS/Rick Wilking/Files
Liberty Media Corp. chairman John Malone - REUTERS/Rick Wilking/Files

The current owners acquired All3Media in 2014 for £550m in a bet on increased production as competition for viewers from Netflix and its streaming rivals triggered a “golden age” of television.

All3Media’s owners are seeking a sale as their own strategies are reshaped by other dealmaking and financial pressures, partly wrought by brutal competition.

Discovery bought into All3Media when it had no in-house production but has since merged with Warner Bros, one of the major Hollywood studios that currently makes more than 110 series for various broadcasters and streamers.

The deal saddled the company with heavy debts that have prompted it to rethink how much of its future to stake on streaming, and to raise cash from asset sales.

Liberty Global’s focus has always been telecoms but it has toyed with television over years when it appeared streaming’s reliance on the internet might trigger a lucrative intertwining.

Instead, investment in better broadband has proved key and the US-listed company has been gradually selling off its assets.

As recently as last year it said there were no plans to sell All3Media. However, in a recent earnings call management said Liberty could “potentially benefit from certain asset sales from our venture portfolio”.

Liberty Global’s dabbling in television has also made it the biggest shareholder in ITV, a probable bidder for All3Media.

The broadcaster has a strong balance sheet and a takeover would allow it to significantly expand its valued ITV Studios arm. The production division is of increasing importance as ITV continues to seek stability away from declining traditional broadcasting and the volatile advertising market.

Jane Turton - Karl Attard
Jane Turton - Karl Attard

All3Media is led by Jane Turton, an ITV Studios veteran, and under her leadership it has expanded from fewer than 20 production houses to more than 50.

It has also increased its investments in the drama series that have lit up television’s “golden age” and tend to attract higher valuations for producers than reality programming.

Still, a hit game show format such as The Traitors, which has now been sold in 20 countries, remains a rare prize in the industry.

It helped deliver record revenues of £867m and underlying earnings of £84m for 2021. The unpublished figures for 2022 will climb further, Mrs Turton has signalled.

It has been some years since a major UK producer was sold but on previous valuation multiples, All3Media could readily top £1bn, City sources said.

Warner Bros Discovery, Liberty Global and All3Media all declined to comment.