British culture minister Lisa Nandy said on Thursday she was minded to intervene in Comcast’s Sky deal to buy the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain’s ITV for £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion).
Nandy said she had potential concerns about the deal’s impact on the breadth of news providers in Britain, as well as the extent of Sky’s control over the media.
She told the two companies she would also examine whether the deal could reduce the availability of high-quality programmes appealing to a wide variety of tastes and interests.
That concern would extend to on-demand as well as broadcast content, and would require an amendment to the existing grounds for intervention to reflect new viewing habits, she said.
Sky agreed in July to buy ITV’s broadcast business, home to programmes such as “Coronation Street”, national news provided by ITN and popular regional news shows.
Pay-TV company Sky already owns rival news provider Sky News, as well as sports and entertainment channels.
ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said at the time she expected the deal to be subject to a lengthy review.
Sky said on Thursday it remained confident the deal would create a stronger British media business better able to compete with global streaming platforms, support British programming and trusted news, and deliver more for audiences.
“We have already made clear commitments to protect ITV’s identity, its free-to-air services and public service broadcasting obligations, and to ensure ITV News and Sky News remain distinct editorial voices,” a spokesperson said.
ITV, which will become a standalone TV production business following the sale, said the intervention was not unexpected.
“This is another important milestone in the regulatory review process towards creating a UK player with the scale and resources to better compete with global streaming platforms, benefiting viewers, advertisers and the UK creative industries,” a spokesperson said.
The two companies have until October 20 to respond to Nandy’s concerns.
($1 = 0.7550 pounds)