LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - British broadcaster ITV has been holding early stage talks with Abu Dhabi-backed group RedBird IMI about a possible merger of their respective production businesses, two people with knowledge of the situation said.

The discussions have centered around merging ITV's Studios business with All3Media, the producer of hit TV show "The Traitors," that RedBird IMI acquired for 1.15 billion pounds ($1.43 billion) last year, the people said.

One option is for ITV to separate out its broadcast business and merge Studios with All3Media, with both RedBird IMI and ITV holding stakes in the studios entity, one of the people said.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private, cautioned the talks were at an early stage and may not lead to any transaction.

Spokespeople for ITV and Redbird IMI declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8048 pounds)

(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London, Hadeel Al-Sayegh in Dubai and Paul Sandle in London. Editing by Anousha Sakoui)