Andrew Neil in media rights takeover

World Media Rights, the company founded by Andrew Neil, chief executive of The Spectator magazine, has made its first acquisition after 18 months of searching for a suitable takeover target.

WMR was co-founded by Alan Griffiths, formerly the head of multimedia at BBC News, and also counts Martin Gilbert, the chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, as an investor. It has acquired Nugus/ Martin Productions, a media rights company which has a catalogue of over 800 programmes and 3,000 hours of archive footage dating back to 1895. The company is known for its historical programmes, such as Churchill's Bodyguard and World War One in Colour.

Mr Neil said Philip Nugus and Jonathan Martin, the owners of Nugus/Martin, had succeeded in keeping the rights to its content at a time "when it was extremely hard to do so".

WMR was created by Mr Neil and Mr Griffiths in 2005 to acquire rights in UK factual and entertainment programming and fill the gap left by BBC Worldwide and Channel 4 Ventures, which have been restricted in the rights they are allowed to buy by media regulator Ofcom. Its aim was to raise [pound]30m from investors.

Mr Neil said: "The first deal was always going to be the hardest to complete. But we are now aiming at raising [pound]50m for the fund."

He added: "It has taken some time for the City to realise that there is a revolution occurring in the UK television industry, which will end with content owners with extensive catalogues being far more valuable than a production company with a couple of hit shows.

"More acquisitions will follow. WMR's mission is to become a global player in media rights."

Mr Griffiths, previously an editor of business programmes at the BBC, was responsible for the creation of BBC News Online.

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