Norton TV firm sold for £17m

An independent production company co-founded by Graham Norton was bought by ITV yesterday for up to £17m (€21.4m) as part of its plans to ramp up its own-made content.

So Television was founded by Bandon, Co Cork-born Norton, and his business partner Graham Stuart, 12 years ago, focusing on comedy and entertainment with hit shows including the Bafta-winning The Graham Norton Show and The Sarah Millican Television Programme.

ITV has agreed to pay £10m up front while a further £7m will be payable depending on performance up to Jul 2016, but the company refused to say how much Norton could pocket from the deal.