Sources: Banijay withdraws from the battle for All3Media

Three persons with knowledge of the situation indicated that Banijay, the French TV production company owned by FL Entertainment, had withdrawn from negotiations to acquire All3Media, a British competitor.

According to one of the persons, Liberty Global and Warner Bros Discovery, the joint owners of All3Media, are instead seeking a transaction with a different bidder in the hopes of reaching an agreement before Christmas. No one at Reuters could find out who this bidder was.

Last month, Reuters reported that bidders filed legally binding proposals for the manufacturer of “Fleabag” and “The Traitors,” with the owners requesting a price of about 1.3 billion pounds ($1.64 billion).

However, Banijay, the company behind “Big Brother,” “Survivor,” and “Black Mirror,” withdrew early this week, according to two unnamed sources, since the price was not what the seller had anticipated.

Warner Bros., Liberty Global, and Banijay representatives refused to comment.

The demand for content has decreased, and the value of certain production organizations has decreased as a result of a challenging ad market and significant losses at streamers.

Earlier this year, All3Media was being discussed for acquisition by British broadcaster and production business ITV. However, in July, ITV said that it was no longer “actively exploring” a purchase. It said that it would keep ‘ monitoring’ the circumstances.

According to Reuters last month, North Road Company, owned by Peter Chernin, also pulled out of the auction after placing a bid.

All3Media was acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global in 2014 for an estimated 550 million pounds.
$1 equals 0.7935 pounds.