Sky UK in Talks to Acquire ITV’s Media and Entertainment Divisions
Broadband and media giant Sky UK (Comcast) is reportedly engaged in “preliminary” talks over the possible £1.6bn acquisition of ITV’s broadcasting business, specifically the company’s Media and Entertainment divisions, which include both their free-to-air TV channels and the ITV X video streaming service.
The traditional TV broadcasting business is currently coming under immense pressure from both a rise in the use of video streaming services (Netflix, Prime [Amazon], YouTube, Disney+ etc.) and the future switch-off of terrestrial TV services – expected to occur during the 2030s (licences that support DTTV are due to expire in 2034) – in favour of streaming TV channels over broadband.
Suffice to say that consolidation and innovation may help to balance against that, while such a sale would also see the pair controlling over 70% of the UK’s TV advertising market (although ITV did just forecast that its ad revenues would be 9% lower in the last quarter of 2025). According to the BBC News, such a situation might normally raise a few regulatory red flags, but the rise in competition from streaming services does tend to change that dynamic (it might now be viewed as more of a rescue deal).
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However, the deal would not include ITV Studios, which creates a number of “popular” TV shows (Love Island, One Piece, Alan Bates vs The Post Office etc.). The news also follows shortly after Liberty Global sold off half its 10% stake in ITV, which could turn out to have been premature (i.e. if a deal is done, their stake might have ended up being worth more).
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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This doesn’t sound like its in the best interests of the UK people so I hope it gets blocked.
agreeed as it says:
“both their free-to-air TV channels and the ITV X video streaming service”
knowing sky, they’ll have an obligation to keep at least ITV1 free to air unless they give up the PSB licence but I think silly tricks like:
-renaming some channels and locking behind a paywall
-as a result of the above, showing episodes early on said channel / ITVX premium / moving to sky max
-news being scrapped for sky news
-swallowing up any sporting rights for sky sports (6 nations rugby, ITV racing etc….)
-britbox catalogue moved into sky on demand – reuiring entertainment pack to watch
-potentially scrapping itvx alltogether and moving content to sky / now tv on demand.
It has to be said though the ‘ITV Encore’ didn’t work before so I doubt this will.
and before anyone jumps of their horses, this is all purely speculative and loosely based on events I’ve seen before (such as disney+ stipping all their content from linear/regular channels).
My biggest concern would be that Sky would be able to bid for the “Crown Jewel” events (e.g. Wimbledon) that are required to be shown on Free To Air TV. With Comcasts financial clout they may well be able to muscle out BBC, Channel 4 & Channel 5. On the other hand some events that have been exclusively on Pay TV may find their way onto FTA, indeed Sky have previously licensed events like the World Cricket Cup final to Channel 4.
Why not, let the monopoly swallow up more media companies up…. It will screw the consumer over even more. Not that I will use Sky services ever again since getting rid of them. Perhaps as they are now owned by an American company the Competitions Commission will do their job with this one and refuse it for approval, if they even look into it.
I do use Now TV but only keeps it as it is on constant discount, and when they expire a quick trip to cancel and it offers further discounts without having to speak with a human and sign another 18 month contract. Terrestrial TV though should be blocked from being purchased by pay service companies.