UK Culture Secretary Steps In on Sky's Bid for ITV

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice on Sky's proposed takeover of ITV, which means the government will look closely at the deal before it can go ahead. The notice was published on 4 November.

The notice is a formal step that lets a minister pause and examine a takeover on public interest grounds. Under it, the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK's competition watchdog, will examine the deal on jurisdiction and competition grounds. Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, will assess the public interest side.

Both bodies have until 27 January to report back to Nandy. After that, she will decide whether to order a more detailed investigation by the CMA. Nothing has been decided yet, and the notice does not approve or block the deal.

The deal has been on the table since earlier in 2026. Comcast-owned Sky announced a plan to buy ITV for $2.1 billion. It would cover ITV's main television network and ITVX, its streaming service. ITV Studios, the company that makes ITV's programmes, would be spun off, meaning split into a separate business.

Nandy wrote to Sky UK Limited and ITV plc on 15 October to say she was minded to intervene. She also said she did not see the need for a foreign state intervention notice, a separate tool used when a foreign government may have a stake in a deal.

Regulators are looking at the numbers closely. Variety reports that Sky and ITV together hold a combined share of around 70% of UK television advertising. ITV's public service broadcaster licence, the agreement that sets its obligations to make public service programmes, runs until the end of 2034, when it comes up for renewal.

For viewers, nothing changes on screen while the review runs. Channels, apps and schedules carry on as they are. The next fixed date is the January report to the Culture Secretary, and her decision on a deeper investigation will follow it.