ITV is reported to be in talks to add the maker of The Imitation Game, the television arm of The Weinstein Company, to its rapidly growing stable of homegrown production companies in a deal worth almost $1 billion.
ITV’s buying spree of television production companies saw it pay £355 million for The Voice maker Talpa Media last month.
It has also been looking at Grey’s Anatomy production company Mark Gordon Co recently.
Any deal with Weinstein is likely to see an upfront payment of $300 million to $400 million, according to Hollywood Reporter which first broke the news, with earn-out and profit target bonuses taking the potential total to around $950 million.
ITV chief executive Adam Crozier has made no secret of his ambitions to make ITV one of the biggest production companies in the US as well as the UK.
The Weinstein Company was formed by the brothers Bob and Harvey after they left Miramax, the studios they founded and sold to Disney, ten years ago.
They will retain the film business which made last year’s hit Paddington.
A spokeswoman for ITV said: “We never comment on this kind of speculation.”
ITV shares rose 4p to 254p.
