The latest story doing the rounds in the production sector is that Elisabeth Murdoch may return to the family roost, by selling her indie production company Shine to News Corporation, the media empire owned by her father Rupert.

Murdoch has appointed JP Morgan to advise on the commercial options for her company, though a News Corp-Shine link up is a no-brainer. Aside from the family links between the two, News Corp already owns 20% of Shine and operates in many of the markets where it is strongest.

Elisabeth Murdoch has shown a great entrepreneurial instinct during her time in charge of Shine, which owns indies such as Kudos and Reveille. She has overseen a range of indie company acquisitions and delivering some hit shows, notably MasterChef and Merlin. However, like many UK-based super-indies she has reached the point where further growth requires a transformational deal of some kind. Rivals such as FremantleMedia and Endemol, for example, are owned by broadcasters – while indies such as Carnival and Shed Media have been bought by US studios.

Shine is not commenting on speculation regarding News Corp. However it has confirmed that it is looking at its options in response to current consolidation within the production sector.