ITV Content Boss Criticizes BBC For “Peculiar” Decision To Buy ‘Suits’ & ‘Gossip Girl’

The head of programs at ITV has criticized the BBC for the “peculiar” decision to buy splashy U.S. shows like Suits and Gossip Girl amid the downturn.

Kevin Lygo said he was “surprised” to see airtime during the BBC’s coverage of the Euros soccer tournament given to promoting these U.S. shows, which the corporation has been in the market for of late.

“I don’t quite understand why when the BBC are falling on difficulty with money and costs of programing, and are struggling to fund [original shows like] Newsnight, they can find the money to buy Suits and Gossip Girl and things like that,” said Lygo. “I think it’s a question for them. I don’t know why they choose to do that – it seems peculiar.”

The BBC has struck a number of major content deals with U.S. sellers of late, including for Suits, which was the most watched show on Netflix in 2023. The shows have been acquired to boost the corporation’s iPlayer VOD platform.

‘Strictly’ scandal

Lygo was speaking as ITV unveiled its half year results for the first six months of 2024, which showed the commercial net’s profit soaring by 40% as the ad market improved, although ITV Studios turnover was down.

Remaining with the subject of the BBC, Lygo was questioned by Deadline on whether ITV will be updating duty of care protocols on any of its shows in the wake of the Strictly Come Dancing scandal.

He said there will be no change on ITV’s equivalent, Dancing on Ice. “The dancers are never alone,” he added of that show. “A lot of the training is done in public and there are nearly always medical stuff around so we are confident everything is OK on that show.”

He was speaking in the week that the BBC is being posed tricky questions following the exit of two dancers due to allegations of inappropriate behavior.

ITV’s profits rose in the first half of this year but the Mr Bates vs the Post Office network is currently in the midst of making dozens of layoffs, which could number around 200.

On the results call, CEO Carolyn McCall revealed that around 85% of those who will depart have taken voluntary redundancy. “That [figure] shows that the program has worked,” she added.

ITV also revised its cost savings program down from 50M ($64M) to £30M.