Sky to buy ITV channels and ITVX in £1.6bn deal
Sky will buy ITV’s channels and ITVX for up to £1.6bn, keeping them free-to-air while regulators weigh a deal that could reshape UK viewing.
Sky and ITV agreed a deal that would fold ITV’s channels and ITVX into a larger media business for up to £1.6bn, but the services would stay free-to-air. For viewers, the immediate promise is continuity: ITV’s public service commitments would remain in full, fan-favourite shows would stay free-to-air, and Sky said there would be more free-to-air sport on ITV than before. The bigger shift is commercial, with Sky saying the combined business would account for around 20% of all in-home viewing in the UK, behind only the BBC and ahead of YouTube.
The agreement, announced by Sky on Sunday and confirmed by ITV on Monday, covers ITV Media & Entertainment, not ITV Studios. Sky said the price included £1.2bn in cash, Love Productions and up to £0.2bn in performance-related earn-out, with the final figure adjusted for cash, debt and net working capital. Sky also secured a separate £2.1bn content agreement with ITV Studios, keeping production outside the sale.
The deal still needs shareholder approval and clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom, with culture secretary Lisa Nandy holding the final decision. Channel 4 and Channel 5 may oppose the tie-up on competition grounds, and ITV’s 40% stake in ITN, which supplies news output to ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, adds another regulatory and commercial complication.
The sale follows months of talks after ITV first entered preliminary discussions with Sky in November 2025. It also comes after the market had already begun to price in a transaction: ITV shares rose 2.9% after earlier reports on the terms, giving the broadcaster a market value of about £3.1bn.
The numbers explain why ITV became a target. ITV’s full-year 2025 revenue was £4.121bn, with ITV Studios contributing £2.130bn and digital revenue £614m. ITVX continued to expand quickly, surpassing its full-year 2024 streams in eleven months and reaching nearly 10 billion streams since launch by December 2025.
For Sky, the deal is designed to bind together free-to-air broadcasting, advertising-funded streaming and subscription TV inside one larger commercial platform. For ITV, it marks the separation of its broadcasting arm from the production business that has helped offset the long slide in linear advertising, and it sets up one of the most consequential changes in British commercial television in years.
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