ITV pulls out of deal for Weinstein Company

ITV has decided not to pursue a deal for The Weinstein Company.

Although never officially confirmed, UK broadcaster ITV was widely reported to be lining up a £600 million deal for TWC’s TV assets. However, trade reports on both sides of the Atlantic said that interest is now dead and ITV has walked away from a potential deal.

Various reasons were cited for ITV not moving forward with the deal, including TWC’s film business, its relationship with Netflix and uncertainty over whether Harvey Weinstein’s contract.

Privately-owned TWC, which is behind films such as The Imitation Game, could not be contacted for comment before press time. The company produces TV shows such as Lifetime’s Project Runway, TLC’s Myrtle Manor and VH1’s Mob Wives.

It is also working on a second season of Marco Polo, the Scream TV series for MTV, and a War and Piece miniseries coproduced with the BBC. It also co-created Peaky Blinders with the BBC.

ITV has been aggressively buying production businesses, notably in the US. Deals inked so far include those for Gurney Productions (Duck Dynasty), Thinkfactory Media (Hatfields & McCoys, Texas Rising), DiGa Vision (Teen Wolf) and High Noon Entertainment (Cake Boss).