International Insider: Sky Buys ITV; Banijay-All3 Complete Merger; Emmy Noms

Hello again, Insider Squad. Jesse Whittock here to update you on the top headlines from the world of TV and film this week, as Europe went M&A crazy. Here’s what happened… but before that sign up to the newsletter for the full Insider experience.

First, Sky Buys ITV

New Sky thinking: It was the week when Sky finally went from looking from the outside in at Britain’s public broadcasters to becoming part of the gang. With most of the UK experiencing a strange form of jet lag after staying up to the early hours to watch England beat Mexico at the World Cup, Comcast-owned pay-TV giant Sky served us a wake-up call on Monday morning when it announced it was paying a total consideration of £1.6B ($2.1B) for the ITV network and streaming business (not including production arm ITV Studios). Courtship of the UK’s top commercial broadcaster had been ongoing since late last year, but it’s only now that hands have been shaken and contracts signed. We immediately sprung into action and quizzed Sky and ITV bosses on how the future might shake out, with questions flying about regulatory scrutiny, the future of a solo ITV Studios, and whether it is right that two British PSBs will soon be controlled by Hollywood studios (Paramount owns 5). Jake laid out the main talking points in this handy guide, including takes on executive structures, job cuts, and how Sky’s premium sports will play a role. Even more intriguing was this follow-up report in which Deadline revealed that Sky top brass, led by American exec Dana Strong, are already drawing up plans to get the likes of SNL UK and The Day of the Jackal on to ITV’s main network. “Having ITV on tap is huge for Sky,” said one source. With a lengthy antitrust investigation set to come, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said to expect a wait of up to 18 months for this transformational deal to complete, though some think this is conservative and it is likely to be rubber stamped sooner. We’ll be there to tell you when it happens.

Related:

Sky Chief Dana Strong Says ITV Will Remain “Deeply British” As Hollywood Tightens Grip On UK Media

ITV Studios Will Not Need A “Transformational Acquisition” After Splitting With ITV Network, Bosses Claim

… Then Banijay & All3 Wed

Indie darling: Those who dislike M&A should continue to look away. Less than four days after Sky and ITV put a ring on it, Banijay and All3Media got hitched for real. The two production giants completed their $8B unison, creating what new chairman Jeff Zucker has called the “largest independent media content company by catalog.” The combined biz will have about 170 production companies and 265,000 hours of content in its library – you’d have to watch TV for 30 straight years to binge through all of it. All the detail is in our breaking news report here. In the immediate wake of the deal, Stewart spoke to Zucker and Marco Bassetti, who becomes Banijay Entertainment CEO. The pair talked strategy and teased the possibility of more deals, notably with ITV Studios seen as an acquisition target.

‘Sopranos’ Scribe At Karlovy Vary

Chase across the world: Our film guys descended on the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival this week to discover what’s hot and not in eastern European and global movie-making. However, it was a legend of the TV game who arguably delivered the biggest headline: The Sopranos creator David Chase took to the stage for an interview with Deadline’s very own Zac as the writer gears up for his first TV show since the seminal HBO hit of the early-to-mid 2000s. During the fascinating talk, Chase candidly recalled the mistakes made on Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark and addressed why it’s been so long since he wrote another series. He also queried why anyone would get into the filmmaking business if they were risk averse, saying, “You’re better off selling running shoes.” Chase’s new project for HBO, Project: MKUltra, is about infamous Cold War spymaster and mind-control chemist Sidney Gottlieb. As a signed-up super-supporter of all things Sopranos-related, I personally can’t wait to see how that ends up. All that and more Karlovy Vary news can be found here.

Global Breakouts: ‘Fadia’

Our latest Global Breakout column features Fadia, a dark and challenging miniseries from Shady Srour, a Palestinian-Israeli auteur known for producing hard-hitting work in one of the world’s most difficult political climates. Inspired by Shakespeare and other great playwrights, Fadia deals with honor killings, that darkest of topics, while saying plenty more about society. It received a rapturous reception at the recent Monte-Carlo TV Festival and won a trio of awards. As Max notes in his story, this important work is one that the world really should see. >>>Read the Report

Emmy Nominations

It will be a quiet year for international projects at the Primetime Emmys, with few represented in the nominations revealed yesterday. Richard Gadd’s Half Man and HBO-BBC banking drama Industry were among those tipped for glory, but which failed to get a nod, as Dominic Patten noted. Matthew Rhys, however, became the first actor to be nominated in the Drama, Comedy and Limited Series categories, plus Gary Oldman and Slow Horses are once again vying for trophies. There is loads to chew over from a U.S. perspective, with Widow’s Bay, The Pitt and Hacks among those leading the way. Next stop in the race for glory is Emmys night on Monday, September 14 with network TV icon Mariska Hargitay hosting. >>>Full Emmy Noms Coverage

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Guy Ritchie is back in business at Amazon. Fresh from developing Young Sherlock, he is now co-creating London-set crime drama series Capital for Amazon MGM Studios with Rob Williams.

🌶️ Another One: Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American, Southeast Asian and worldwide Airline rights (excluding France) to Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz drama-thriller Bunker.

🦠 Cleaning up: BBC director general Matt Brittin has said that the British broadcaster can be a “disinfectant for misinformation” online.

🚪 Exiting: Fremantle‘s long-serving C-suiter Bob McCourt is leaving the Got Talent maker after nearly three decades.

⛺ Fest: The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 79th edition with films from Hong Sang-soo, Basil Da Cunha, Gurvinder Singh and Denis Côté in the main International Competition.

🖊️ Signed: David McKenna, one of the breakout stars of Netflix and the BBC’s recent Lord of The Flies drama, with CAA.

👀 First look: MobLand Season 2 will launch globally on Paramount+ on Friday, September 18 and the Tom Hardy-starring crime drama has released a teaser trailer and a batch of first-look images.

🍿 Box office: Read this fun list of the 61 movies that have made over $1B at the box office.

Photo Of The Week

Bon Voyage – Christopher Nolan (fifth left) poses with the likes of Zendaya and Matt Damon at the world premiere of his Greek mythology epic The Odyssey in London.

International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Stewart Clarke. Send any tips, comments or ideas for international coverage to [email protected] and [email protected]