ITV looks to be ahead in the battle to secure the rights to talent contest The Voice after it emerged that the commercial broadcaster has been in discussions to also air the show’s youth counterpart The Voice Kids.
ITV and the BBC have both bid for The Voice, which is currently broadcast by the corporation in a deal that runs out next year after its fifth series.
But it is understood that ITV has not only offered more money but also the idea that it will run children’s version The Voice Kids too.
This is likely to go down well with the show’s creator, Dutch media mogul John De Mol, who is one of the people who will decide where The Voice ends up.
He has been trying to persuade the BBC to run The Voice Kids, telling the Guardian in 2012 that he was talking to the corporation about it and there was a “fair chance” the show, which looks for talented young singers aged between eight and 14, would make it to the UK.
The BBC decided not to as it could be laid open to accusations that a publicly-funded broadcaster should not put children under such pressure.
However, the format has been a success abroad, particularly in the Netherlands and Australia where it is extremely popular – earlier this year Nicole Kidman revealed her daughter wanted to be on the show.
A decision about the future of The Voice is due to be made soon by the company that owns the format, Talpa.
To make matters more confusing, Talpa is now owned by ITV’s production arm ITV Studios and the final decision is understood to be down to De Mol and the head of ITV Studios Kevin Lygo.
If it secures The Voice and The Voice Kids, ITV will have a potential pipeline to bolster ratings on Saturday nights, which have been dented by a decline in The X Factor’s audiences and a strong Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1.
It will also loosen ITV’s reliance on Simon Cowell to a degree when it comes to re-signing contracts for X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. But the network is likely to have to prove that it will look after the long-term health of The Voice.
When the BBC last renewed its deal for the show, thought to be two years ago, a senior executive with the programme-makers said they chose to go with the BBC rather than ITV for “creative reasons”.
At the BBC – which has offered a two-year deal to Talpa again – it has been a ratings-winner and is a much prized asset whereas ITV has more big entertainment shows in its stable such as I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here, Britain’s Got Talent and newcomer Ninja Warrior.
But the BBC’s hands are tied financially and politically and it has refused to get into a bidding war.
The acquisition of The Voice has attracted criticism from some quarters, most notably recently from ITV itself in its written submission to the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee’s review of the BBC charter.
It lost out to the BBC four years ago when the corproation won it in a £20m deal – which was criticised by culture secretary John Whittingdale who questioned whether it was a good use of licence fee payers money to buy the show and described it as “way outside the definition of what I call public service broadcasting”.
ITV declined to comment.
