Strap in, ITV is making an audacious bid for Gogglebox – Channel 4’s biggest show after the Great British Bake Off
- ITV sources said it was a possibility ITV will buy the rights from Studio Lambert
- It would be biggest defection of a TV show since Bake Off moved from BBC to C4
It is Channel 4’s biggest show after the Great British Bake Off… but there is a chance it may be on the move.
Gogglebox, the heart-warming and hilarious series that turns the camera on TV viewers in their own homes, was the target of an audacious bid by ITV this year, it can be revealed.
Talks were held between ITV boss Kevin Lygo and the owner of Studio Lambert, the production company that makes Gogglebox, while it was still under contract with Channel 4 – but they broke down.
Such a deal would have been worth tens of millions of pounds.
Later, ITV began working on buying Studio Lambert outright in a last ditch attempt to own the rights to the Bafta-winning programme – something ITV sources say is still a possibility.
Talks were held between ITV boss Kevin Lygo (pictured) and the owner of Studio Lambert, the production company that makes Gogglebox
Later, ITV began working on buying Studio Lambert outright in a last ditch attempt to own the rights to the Bafta-winning programme – something ITV sources say is still a possibility
If the buyout goes ahead, it would be the biggest defection of a TV show since Bake Off moved from the BBC to Channel 4 in a £75million three-year deal in 2016.
A television source said: ‘Kevin Lygo is a massive fan of Gogglebox and he thinks it is exactly what ITV needs. It gets massive ratings and the view at ITV is that if it was on their channel it would get even more.
‘It is a programme that really gets into the UK’s cultural zeitgeist, really understands the great British public and it makes people laugh. It seems to have become a battle that ITV are very keen not to lose.
‘Kevin used to work at Channel 4, he knows the difference in reach and money between there and ITV. He has been determined to make this happen.’
However, Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon and her number two Ian Katz are understood to be working hard to ensure they keep the show, although they have recently axed a number of other programmes amid a financial crisis at the company.
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