Lisa Nandy 'minded to intervene' in Sky's £1.6bn purchase of ITV
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says she is 'minded to intervene' in Sky's £1.6bn purchase of ITV's broadcasting and streaming arm, a Sky ITV deal that would create the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster.
Lisa Nandy 'minded to intervene' in Sky's £1.6bn purchase of ITV
Why Nandy is stepping in
The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said she is "minded to intervene" in Sky's £1.6bn purchase of ITV, a step that paves the way for deeper scrutiny of a combination that would create the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster. She is issuing her decision in relation to a series of "public interest considerations". These are:
- free expression of opinion in news media and "a sufficient plurality of views"
- a "sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises"
- safeguarding the availability of a wide range of high-quality broadcasting or on-demand programmes appealing to a wide variety of tastes
A deal to build a UK streaming champion
Sky announced over the summer that it had reached a deal to buy ITV's broadcasting and streaming arm. Sky is owned by the US company Comcast. The company sees the purchase as a chance to create a "UK-focused national streaming champion" that can survive in a media world dominated by Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
What happens next
The intervention signal is a formal part of the takeover process, and the companies now have five days to respond. A decision to intervene would set Ofcom, the media industry regulator, and the Competition and Markets Authority on the deal's trail for formal inquiries.
"minded to intervene"
The precedent: Paramount and Channel 5
Nandy has taken a similar line before with Paramount's $110bn (£85bn) takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, a company Netflix had tried to buy. The combined group, renamed Skydance, is to be headed by David Ellison. Nandy threatened to step in there because Paramount owns the UK's Channel 5, but let the deal pass after winning commitments: Channel 5 keeps operating as a public service broadcaster until the end of 2034, and Channel 5 News retains its editorial independence from CBS News and CNN International.
