{"id":625682,"date":"2026-06-07T08:37:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625682\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T08:37:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:37:47","slug":"itv-ceo-on-possible-sky-deal-fifa-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625682\/","title":{"rendered":"ITV CEO on Possible Sky Deal, FIFA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tU.K. TV giant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/itv\/\" id=\"auto-tag_itv_1\" data-tag=\"itv\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ITV<\/a> CEO Carolyn McCall discussed the opportunities coming her team\u2019s way during the soccer World Cup. At an industry crowd in London on Thursday, she also mentioned that ITV remains \u201cvery much actively engaged in discussions\u201d with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/sky-2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_sky-2_1\" data-tag=\"sky-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sky<\/a> about a potential mega-deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tSky has been in discussions with U.K. TV giant\u00a0ITV\u00a0regarding a possible acquisition of ITV\u2019s media &amp; entertainment (M&amp;E) business. \u201cWe will update the market in due course,\u201d ITV had\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/itv-q1-earnings-report-ad-revenue-studios-sky-deal-talks-1236592752\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said <\/a>last month\u00a0after first disclosing the talks in November. The unit includes ITV\u2019s commercial free-to-air TV channels in the U.K., as well as its ITVX streaming platform. After a potential deal, ITV Studios would continue as a standalone company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAsked about this potential shedding of the M&amp;E arm at the Enders TMT Leaders Live conference in the British capital, McCall offered: \u201cShedding is a bad word,\u201d signaling that she would use a different phrase for the strategy behind the possible deal. But she also highlighted that she couldn\u2019t discuss the possible merger as the talks are ongoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tMeanwhile, the upcoming FIFA World Cup is a key opportunity for ITV. McCall mentioned a fan app to engage differently and in new ways with audiences in addition to streaming and traditional TV broadcasts. \u201cOf course, we are going to have millions coming in\u201d and sampling what else ITV has to offer in terms of programming, the CEO concluded. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe ITV CEO also lauded both ITV Studios and the M&amp;E unit as doing well. \u201cWe are hugely cash-generative,\u201d thanks particularly to the M&amp;E business, she said. And she highlighted: \u201cWe have optimized everything we do\u201d at M&amp;E, to shore up areas, such as linear TV, hit by disruption. She also signaled that ITV Studios should have a higher stock multiple based on comparables.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tEarlier in the conference day, Comcast\u2019s European TV and telecom powerhouse\u00a0Sky was in the spotlight, with group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/snl-uk-sky-symphonic-engagement-ceo-dana-strong-1236613225\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CEO Dana Strong<\/a> taking the Enders stage. She was not asked about the potential acquisition of a part of ITV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.K. TV giant ITV CEO Carolyn McCall discussed the opportunities coming her team\u2019s way during the soccer World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,718,347,7355,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-625682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-itv","tag-sky","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}