ITV has sold its majority stake in subtitling business Independent Television Facilities Centre to post production firm Elektrofilm for£7.4m. [ALL]
ITV has sold its majority stake in subtitling business Independent Television Facilities Centre to post production firm Elektrofilm for £7.4m.

As part of the deal, ITFC has agreed a long term contract with Elektrofilm to continue providing ITV's 11 regional licence holders with subtitling, audio descriptions and video post production services.

ITV plans to plough the proceeds of the sale back into its core programme making business.

ITV owned 91.5% of ITFC. The four independent ITV regional licence holders owned the remaining 8.5%.

The regional licensees have also sold their stake to Elektrofilm for £700,000, taking the total value of the deal to £8.1m.

Elektrofilm is owned by Medici Group, a family of companies that specialise in the production and distribution of television programmes.

Medici Group chairman and chief executive Robert Walston said: 'We are pleased to enter into a long-term partnership with ITV through the acquisition of ITFC and the execution of the Services Agreement. We look forward to further growth, both in the UK and globally.'

The sale is part of ITV's disposal of non-core assets. It has raised close to £600 million through sales since the merger that created ITV in 2004.

Picture: ITFC creating subtitles for IBC TV in 2006

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