Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said she is considering formally intervening in the proposed Sky ITV takeover, a £1.6bn deal that would see Sky acquire ITV’s media and entertainment division. Nandy told both companies she had reasonable grounds to believe the arrangement could affect free expression in the media and the range of voices available to viewers across Britain, BBC News reported.
The culture secretary has written to Sky and ITV saying she is minded to send a formal notice triggering a probe — known as a public interest intervention notice — to both the Competition and Markets Authority and regulator Ofcom, which would force a formal investigation into the deal. Sky and ITV have until 20 October to respond to her concerns.
What the deal involves
Sky and ITV announced in July that Sky had agreed to buy ITV’s broadcasting business, covering its free-to-air TV channels and the ITVX on-demand platform. ITV Studios, the production arm behind programmes such as Love Island and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, is excluded from the transaction.
The companies said the tie-up would help them compete with streaming platforms such as Netflix. ITV said in a statement that the deal would help it ‘compete with global streaming platforms, benefiting viewers, advertisers and the UK creative industries’. Sky said it remained ‘confident that bringing Sky and ITV’s media and entertainment business together will create a stronger British media’.
Nandy’s concerns about news diversity
In her letter, Nandy said she was weighing a probe to address concerns including the availability of a broad spread of news perspectives across the UK, free expression of opinion, a variety of people controlling media outlets, and a wide range of programmes being offered. She noted that Sky News and ITV News together hold a 26% share of those watching news on linear television, making them two of the most prominent TV news sources in the country.
While she acknowledged that audiences would still have access to other sources such as the BBC and Channel 4, Nandy argued that over time the merger could narrow the range of views available to viewers. She said her letter raised concerns that, with the combined entity, 86% of the linear TV news market would be controlled by the BBC and Sky/ITV together.
The letter also said the North of England, nations of the UK other than England, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds could be particularly affected, because broadcast news is their main source of news.
A Sky spokesperson said: ‘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.’ Sky added that it would ‘carefully consider’ the culture secretary’s letter and ‘engage constructively’ with the review.
ITV called the letter ‘another important milestone in the regulatory review process’ and said it looked forward to ‘fully co-operating in the process’.
Nandy also said that if she decides to act on a new public interest consideration relating to on-demand and streaming content, she would need to bring forward new legislation, given that existing law does not extend to the impact of a merger on streaming or on-demand services. She said: ‘If I decide to intervene on the basis of this new public interest consideration, I will bring forward legislation… to extend the application of the public interest consideration relating to the availability of a wide range of broadcasting to on-demand programmes.’ Sky and ITV have until 20 October to submit their formal responses to her concerns.
