business
Sky to Buy ITV TV and Streaming Channels for £1.6 Billion
Sky, owned by Comcast, will acquire ITV's broadcast and streaming operations including ITVX. ITV Studios will remain independent under current shareholders. The deal follows talks that began in 2025.
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Sky announced on 5 July 2026 that it will purchase ITV's television and streaming channels for £1.6 billion. The transaction covers ITV's media and entertainment business and the ITVX platform. Sky, owned by the American company Comcast, has held discussions with ITV about the purchase since 2025.
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ITV Studios, which owns more than 60 production companies and produces series such as Line of Duty and Love Island USA, is excluded from the deal and will operate as a separate listed company owned by existing ITV shareholders. ITV holds a public service broadcasting licence that requires it to maintain a free-to-air service until at least 2034.
The licence also mandates that 85 percent of peak schedule content be original programming, that a proportion of programmes be made outside London, and that a defined amount of national and regional news be broadcast.
ITN's contract to produce news bulletins for ITV has been renewed until 2031. ITN has supplied those bulletins since ITV launched in 1955. Producer Patrick Spence, whose series Mr Bates vs The Post Office drew around 15 million viewers on ITV in 2024, described the transaction as exciting and said the two companies are good bedfellows.
Caroline Frost of Radio Times noted that top programmes such as Coronation Street continue to reach four to five million viewers and that the supply agreement with ITV Studios will limit immediate changes to programming.
