Streaming storm made ITV sharing a roof with Sky sadly inevitable

Jul 06, 2026 - 18:30

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Streaming storm made ITV sharing a roof with Sky sadly inevitable

While everyone agrees the deal is the end of an era, it was also unavoidable in the era of Netflix and Disney+

A generation ago, ITV was regarded as such a precious jewel in the UK broadcasting firmament that there was outrage when BSkyB, as it was, bought a 17.9% stake to stop anybody else getting their hands on the business. After a drawn-out saga, the then Murdoch-controlled Sky was forced by regulators to divest in the interests of plurality. Politicians breathed a sigh of relief.

That was 2006. To say the UK television game has changed since those days is to understate matters grossly. As ITV unveiled its £1.6bn deal to sell its broadcasting business – but not its more valuable programme-making studios operation – to Sky, now under the ownership of US group Comcast, it was hard to detect any political uproar that might threaten the deal.