Reorganisation
There were rumours of take-over and merger bids during 2006. For example, on 9 November 2006, NTL announced that it had approached ITV plc about a proposed merger.[17][18] The merger was effectively blocked by British Sky Broadcasting on 17 November 2006 when it bought a 17.9% stake in ITV plc for £940 million,[19] a move that attracted anger from NTL shareholder Richard Branson[20] and an investigation from media and telecoms regulator Ofcom.[21] On 6 December 2006, NTL announced that it had complained to the Office of Fair Trading about BSkyB's move. NTL stated that it had withdrawn its attempt to buy ITV plc, citing that it did not believe that there was any possibility to make a deal on favourable terms.[22] At the same time as the NTL bid, RTL, the then-owner of Channel 5, was also rumoured to be preparing a bid for ITV plc, with the possibility of a stock-swap with BSkyB; the plan would have seen RTL acquiring BSkyB's stake in ITV plc (with the aim of further acquisitions of shares in the future) in exchange for BSkyB taking full control of Channel 5.[23] In the end, no movement was made on this possible deal and RTL sold Channel 5 to Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell Network in July 2010.[24]
The company then entered into a series of disposals of non-core activities: in March 2009 the company sold its investment in Friends Reunited (a website dedicated to reunited former school friends or colleagues in a number of countries) which it had acquired in December 2005.[25] Also in May 2009 the company sold Carlton Screen Advertising (the largest cinema advertising business in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and now known as Wide Eye Media).[26]
In 2010, a large-scale business reorganisation, called the "five-year Transformation Plan" was launched. Thanks to stringent working capital management and cost management some of the set goals were already achieved in 2012. These include a ranking upgrade (from BB− to BB+), an increase in audience share and reduction of debt (from net debt of £730 million at the end of 2008, to a positive net cash position of £16 million at the end of the first quarter 2012).[27]
In December 2013 the company sold its remaining shareholding in STV Group plc (owner of the Scottish and Grampian ITV licences) which had been bought by Carlton in 1999.[28]
On 17 July 2014, BSkyB's 6.4% stake in ITV was sold to Liberty Global, valued at £481 million.[29]
On 19 October 2015, ITV purchased UTV for £100m ensuring that 13 out of the 15 licences (it does not hold the two wholly in Scotland) were in its control.[30] It sold UTV Ireland to Virgin Media in July 2016.[31]
Canadian multinational film and television distributor Entertainment One rejected an ITV takeover offer of around £1 billion in 2016, stating that it "fundamentally undervalue[d] the company and its prospects".[32]
ITV acquired a majority stake in World Productions, producers of hit BBC series Line of Duty, in 2017, making it part of ITV Studios.[33][34]
In 2022, the company announced the arrival of ITVX, which it said would be Britain's first integrated advertising and subscription funded streaming platform, and would complement its catch-up service, ITV Hub, and would include access to BritBox.[35][36]
A fall in share value linked to investor worries about declining advertising revenue led to ITV being moved from the FTSE 100 to the FTSE 250 Index in mid-2022.[37]
