ITV winds up Granada

Sales unit gets overhaul

By STEVE CLARKE

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U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV is winding up its standalone sales arm, Granada Intl., as it overhauls its rights exploitation, merchandising and licensing activities.

Granada Intl. and Granada Ventures will be merged into a single, as yet unnamed, entity.

The move, which is likely to lead to job cuts, follows the news that Granada Intl.’s head Nadine Nohr is standing down to pursue “other challenges.”

The new entity will be led by Peter Iacono, who recently joined ITV from Sony Pictures in the U.S.

“The merger makes real sense and demonstrates how serious we are about meeting our growth targets for this business,” said Dawn Airey, director of ITV Global. “We are creating a bigger, better and more effective structure to allow us to grow our global content businesses further and faster.”

As part of the restructuring, ITV is creating the new post of commercial brand director, charged with responsibility for “360-degree exploitation” of content across all platforms and territories.

ITV aims to double content revenues to $2.4 billion by 2012. ITV net profits plunged 38% to $273.2 million last year.