Granada Ventures and Granada International to Merge

The UK’s ITV is planning to merge its licensing, merchandising and TV exploitation business into one with Granada Ventures and Granada International combining later this spring.

A spokeswoman for ITV told License! Global: “GI and GV are being merged, and we are proposing to create a new unified structure with a number of new roles covering the business areas previously covered by those two separate organisations. Many roles will transfer to the new organisation, although some will not. We have begun the process of consultation with affected staff.”

The unified business is to be led by ITV Worldwide president and managing director Peter Iacono, who recently joined ITV from Sony Pictures in the US, reporting to Dawn Airey, managing director of ITV Global Content.

The restructure includes the creation of a commercial brand director for ITV Worldwide, responsible for 360 degree exploitation of content across multiple platforms and territories, working ITV Productions, ITV Group Marketing and the ITV Network.