In one of the biggest shake-ups in British television for decades, Sky has agreed to acquire ITV’s broadcasting and streaming business in a deal worth up to £1.6 billion, bringing together the UK’s two largest commercial television operations.
However, before everyone starts declaring that “Sky has bought ITV”, there is one rather important distinction to make. Sky is not buying ITV Studios.
What Sky is buying is ITV Media & Entertainment, the part of the company which operates ITV’s free-to-air channels, ITVX, its advertising business and its public service broadcasting licences. The global production and distribution operation, ITV Studios, is being separated from the broadcaster and will remain an independent, London-listed company.
Or, to put it more simply: the ITV that viewers watch will become part of Sky, while the company that actually makes many of ITV’s programmes will remain separate.
So, what exactly is Sky buying?
The proposed deal will bring ITV’s channels and ITVX into the same group as Sky’s subscription television, streaming, broadband and mobile businesses.
That means one company would ultimately sit behind ITV’s free-to-air television operation, the advertising-funded ITVX service and Sky’s vast pay-TV and streaming business. According to the companies, the combined operation would account for around 20% of all in-home viewing in the UK, making it second only to the BBC and ahead of YouTube.
Sky is also acquiring ITV’s Channel 3 licences, which means it inherits the public service broadcasting commitments attached to them. Those commitments include national and regional news, current affairs and other public service programming, and currently run until 2034.
For viewers, the immediate message is that ITV is not being turned into another subscription service.
ITV’s channels and ITVX will remain free-to-air, while Sky says familiar programmes such as ‘Coronation Street’, ‘Emmerdale’, ‘Love Island’ and ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ will continue to be available for free. The company has also promised more free-to-air sport on ITV services.
ITV News and Sky News are also being kept as separate editorial operations. That will almost certainly be an important part of the regulatory discussion, given that Sky already owns Sky News and the transaction will also involve ITV’s interest in ITN.
And what is Sky not buying?
This is the bit likely to cause the most confusion.
ITV Studios is not part of the sale.
That huge international production and distribution business will remain separate, making and selling programmes to broadcasters and streamers around the world. In fact, ITV Studios is getting slightly bigger as part of the transaction, as Sky is transferring Love Productions, the company behind ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and ‘The Piano’, to ITV.
The new relationship between the broadcaster and the production company will be backed by a major content deal. Sky has committed to a minimum spend of £2.1 billion with ITV Studios between 2028 and 2032, covering major programmes and genres including ‘Coronation Street’, ‘Emmerdale’, ‘Love Island’, ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ and daytime programming.
So Sky is not buying the company which owns and produces ITV Studios’ vast catalogue of programming. It is buying the television and streaming business which broadcasts much of it, then signing a very large long-term agreement to keep buying content from the newly independent studio.
It is an unusual split, but it reflects how different the two sides of ITV have become. One is a UK broadcaster and streaming platform trying to compete for viewers and advertising. The other is a global production company making programmes for broadcasters and streamers around the world.
What could this mean for viewers?
Probably not an enormous amount on day one.
ITV1 is not suddenly becoming Sky ITV. ITVX is not disappearing behind a Sky subscription. ‘Coronation Street’ is not moving exclusively to Sky Atlantic.
At least, none of those things are part of the deal which has been announced.
The more likely changes will come behind the scenes and through technology. Sky is pitching the merger as a way to improve streaming technology, content discovery and the overall viewing experience. Bringing ITVX into a business with Sky’s existing streaming infrastructure could give the service access to far greater technical resources.
That does not necessarily mean ITVX will be merged into Sky’s existing apps, and neither company has announced anything of the sort. However, some form of closer integration across services and devices would hardly be surprising in the longer term.
There is also the bigger strategic question of whether this helps create a genuinely strong British alternative to Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and YouTube.
Sky brings subscription revenue, premium sport, entertainment, broadband and technology. ITV brings enormous free-to-air reach, a major advertising operation and one of the UK’s biggest streaming services. Combining those businesses gives the new operation several different ways to make money rather than relying entirely on subscriptions or advertising.
That, more than anything, is what this deal is about.
What does it mean for British television?
Potentially, quite a lot.
The UK television industry has spent years trying to work out how traditional broadcasters can continue competing with global streaming and technology companies. This deal is one very large answer to that question: consolidate.
Sky and ITV argue that combining their scale will allow them to continue investing in British programming while competing more effectively with companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Google. The £2.1 billion agreement with ITV Studios also gives the newly separated production company a substantial guaranteed customer for five years.
There are some potentially positive signs for the wider production industry too. Programmes bought from ITV Studios under the new agreement will not count towards ITV’s independent production quotas, meaning the broadcaster should still need to commission qualifying programmes from other UK independent producers.
However, consolidation also comes with the obvious question of how much power one company should have over British commercial television.
Reuters reports that the combined Sky and ITV operation could account for around 70% of the UK’s linear television advertising market when third-party advertising sales contracts are included. That is likely to receive close attention from regulators, alongside questions around media plurality and the relationship between Sky News, ITV News and ITN.
There is also the less cheerful meaning of the phrase “cost synergies”. Sky expects to save around £200 million a year by the end of the third year following completion. The company says most of that will come from marketing, technology platforms and non-UK content, although Sky CEO Dana Strong has acknowledged there will be some job losses where corporate and commercial roles overlap. (The Guardian)
This is not a done deal yet
The acquisition still needs regulatory approval and is not expected to complete until the second half of 2027.
That means the current ITV continues operating as normal for now, with ITV Media & Entertainment and ITV Studios remaining part of the same company until the separation is complete.
The regulatory process may prove to be the most interesting part of the whole story. Sky and ITV will argue that British broadcasters now compete in a market dominated by global streaming platforms and YouTube. Regulators will have to decide whether that broader competitive reality justifies allowing the UK’s two biggest commercial television businesses to come together.
Assuming the deal does go through, the result will be a very different British television landscape.
Sky will own the ITV channels and ITVX, alongside its existing pay-TV and streaming operations. ITV Studios will become a standalone global production company, strengthened by the addition of Love Productions and protected by a £2.1 billion supply agreement with its former broadcasting sibling.
So, no, Sky has not simply “bought ITV”.
It is arguably something even more significant. One of Britain’s most famous television companies is being split in two, with its broadcasting business joining the country’s other commercial TV giant while its production empire heads off on its own.
And that could reshape UK television for years to come.
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