Sky ITV deal: £2bn pledge backs £1.6bn broadcast bid

Sky has committed to spend £2 billion on ITV Studios over five years as Comcast-owned Sky moves closer to a roughly £1.6 billion purchase of ITV’s broadcast and streaming arm. The structure would hand Sky more UK television scale while leaving ITV’s production business outside the transaction. Reuters reported on June 24 that Sky had reached terms on the deal. The Guardian reported on June 28 that the buyer was pairing the acquisition with the studios spending pledge.

The proposed carve-up is the point. Sky appears to be buying linear channels, ITVX and advertising inventory, not the whole ITV machine. That would give Comcast more reach in British television without absorbing the full production portfolio, one of ITV’s steadier assets. Sky would pay for distribution scale and secure programming through a multiyear commitment, rather than owning the studio arm outright.

Investors have not treated the talks as a casual approach. ITV shares rose 2.9 per cent after Reuters first reported that terms had been reached, lifting the company’s market value to about £3.1 billion, according to the Reuters report. The move suggested shareholders saw a plausible split between a broadcast-and-streaming business and an international production unit.

Why the structure matters

The £2 billion pledge answers the immediate content question: what happens to ITV’s pipeline if the broadcast arm is split from the studio business that supplies many of its programmes? The Guardian said the commitment is not new money, but a formalised five-year spending plan. Even so, it gives Sky a cleaner argument that ITV’s channels and ITVX would keep access to commissioned content while ITV Studios remains a separate asset.

ITV Studios is not a side business. The Guardian said the unit generated more than half of ITV’s revenue in 2025, which helps explain why a sale of the entire group was never the only route. A narrower transaction would let ITV retain an asset with international earnings power. It would also give Sky a faster route into ad-supported streaming. ITVX had 16.5 million monthly active users in 2025, up from 14.7 million in 2024, The Guardian reported. That is a meaningful audience at a time when legacy broadcast economics are still weakening.

There is already a commercial bridge between the companies. In a statement earlier this year, Sky said it had agreed a new long-term partnership with ITV that expanded distribution across streaming and channel products. Buying the broadcast and streaming arm would take that relationship much further. Comcast would bring more of the UK television stack in-house as incumbent broadcasters try to bulk up against Netflix, Amazon and Disney.

Where scrutiny could land

The same industrial logic is likely to attract regulators. The Guardian said a combined ITV and Sky advertising operation could leave Comcast with more than 70 per cent of the UK television advertising market, a level that would raise questions at the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom. Supporters can argue that scale is needed against global streamers and digital ad platforms. Critics will ask whether advertisers, producers and rival broadcasters would face a stronger gatekeeper in television and connected-TV inventory.

Execution risk sits beside the antitrust issue. Sky would be trying to combine a mature pay-TV and broadband operator with a broadcaster still working through the economics of ad-funded streaming. It would also need to preserve enough distance from ITV Studios for that business to trade credibly on its own. That is workable on paper, but remedies around ad sales, distribution or prominence could cut into the strategic upside.

The talks are still short of a signed and cleared transaction. Reuters reported in May that ITV remained in active discussions with Sky after earlier reports of a possible deal. The latest structure suggests both sides see a path that protects ITV Studios, gives Sky more streaming and advertising weight, and lets Comcast make a European media-consolidation bet without buying the whole company. Regulators will decide whether the £1.6 billion headline becomes a completed deal.