Sky has announced a long awaited \u00a31.6bn deal to buy ITV\u2019s broadcasting and streaming arm to create the UK\u2019s biggest commercial broadcaster.<\/p>\n
Sky, which is owned by the US telecoms company Comcast<\/a>, will pay \u00a31.2bn in cash initially for ITV\u2019s media and entertainment business, which include its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform. It has agreed to pay a further up to \u00a3200m in the second half of 2028, depending on 2027 advertising revenues.<\/p>\n Sky hopes the deal will help it compete for viewers with US streaming platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n As part of the transaction, Comcast will sell its Love Productions business, which makes The Great British Bake Off and The Piano, to ITV<\/a> for \u00a3200m.<\/p>\n Sky and ITV had been in negotiations for months to hammer out the complicated deal.<\/p>\n It does not include the programme-making arm ITV<\/a> Studios, one of the world\u2019s biggest production companies, which has made shows including I\u2019m a Celebrity\u2026 and the hit drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office. ITV Studios will remain as a standalone company listed on the London Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n Sky has committed to spending at least \u00a32.1bn<\/a> between 2028 and 2032 on the studios business as part of a long-term strategic partnership, safeguarding the future of popular programmes such as Coronation Street<\/a> and Love Island.<\/p>\n The board expects to return \u00a3950m to ITV shareholders after completion of the deal, and a further \u00a365m will be put into escrow for the benefit of the ITV pension scheme.<\/p>\n Dana Strong, Sky\u2019s chief executive, described it as a \u201cdefining moment for British media and an opportunity to build a stronger future for two of the UK\u2019s most loved and trusted brands\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cWe have huge respect for the transformation the ITV team has delivered, particularly its successful move into streaming through ITVX, which has brought fantastic British content to millions of viewers across the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Cosslett, ITV\u2019s chair, said: \u201cFor over seven decades, ITV has played an important and cherished role in the public life of the nation.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time of rapid change in the industry, it is right that we now secure ITV\u2019s crucial role as a public service broadcaster and this transaction achieves this with ITV\u2019s media and entertainment division combining with Sky to create a UK champion with the scale and resources to better compete with global streaming platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n ITV\u2019s broadcasting arm made revenues of nearly \u00a32bn last year and a profit before tax of \u00a3274.2m, down from \u00a3308.7m in 2024.<\/p>\n Sky has agreed to pay a break fee of \u00a380m if the deal does not get regulatory approval. ITV, for its part, would have to pay a break fee \u00a311.5m if it does not get the nod from regulators for its acquisition of Love Productions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sky has announced a long awaited \u00a31.6bn deal to buy ITV\u2019s broadcasting and streaming arm to create the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-676275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676275","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=676275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}