U.K. culture minister Lisa Nandy has signalled she is “minded to intervene” in Sky’s proposed $2 billion takeover of ITV, citing concerns about maintaining media plurality, particularly with regard to news.
Nandy confirmed in a statement she may intervene if she has “reasonable grounds to suspect” that public interest considerations are at play.
These include the “need for free expression of opinion in news media,” “a sufficient plurality of views in news media” and “a sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises” serving a variety of areas around the U.K. (in effect, local news).
Comcast-owned Sky struck a deal with ITV back in July to acquire the broadcaster and its streaming platform ITVX for £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) subject to regulatory and legal processes. If the acquisition goes ahead, the network’s production arm, ITV Studios, will be carved away to form a standalone listed company.
Sir Peter Bazalgette, former chair of ITV, told Variety earlier this year he thinks government policy is now more favourable to media consolidation because it’s the only way for public service broadcasters to survive in the current climate. “Domestic broadcasters across Europe are under considerable pressure from not just the streamers, but also from YouTube,” he said, pointing out that with broadcasters now competing with YouTube, Meta, TikTok and other platforms for video advertising, Sky and ITV jointly represents only a 20 to 30% market share.
Bazalgette was, however, speaking under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration. While Starmer’s government was understood to be more pragmatic about M&A activity, it remains to be seen whether his replacement Andy Burnham feels the same. Although, notably, Nandy — who’d previously said she was “minded to intervene” on Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — ultimately let the deal go through, just a few weeks into Burnham’s premiership.
If Nandy does go ahead and issue an intervention notice to Sky and ITV, the Competition and Markets Authority as well as the media regulator Ofcom would need to assess the deal and its impact and report back to the minister. The CMA would then carry out a more detailed investigation.
Nandy said she has written to Sky and ITV to inform them of her intention to further scrutinize the process. The companies will have until Oct. 20 to make representations.