Television production companies should go private rather than suffer “the listed disease” of being misunderstood by investors, Endemol’s co-founder has said, as he refused to rule out a bid for ITV by the Big Brother and Deal or No Deal producer.

John de Mol, who bought back into Endemol in a €3.1bn leveraged buy-out from Telefónica last year, said it would probably buy smaller producers but, commenting on ITV, added: “This one is an example of a combination that could make sense, depending on the numbers.”