---
title: "Sky moves to buy ITV's broadcasting arm, with a £2bn content pledge"
description: "Comcast-owned Sky has agreed terms to take over ITV's television channels and ITVX streaming service, in a deal reported at around £1.6bn that would reshape British broadcasting — sweetened by a £2bn pledge to keep funding shows like 'Coronation Street'. Regulators and unions are already watching closely."
category: "Business"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/business
author: "Elena Castro"
published: 2026-06-28T17:08:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-28T17:08:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/sky-itv-broadcasting-takeover-2bn-pledge
tags: ["sky", "itv", "media", "comcast", "broadcasting", "streaming"]
---
# Sky moves to buy ITV's broadcasting arm, with a £2bn content pledge

Comcast-owned Sky has agreed terms to take over ITV's television channels and ITVX streaming service, in a deal reported at around £1.6bn that would reshape British broadcasting — sweetened by a £2bn pledge to keep funding shows like 'Coronation Street'. Regulators and unions are already watching closely.

Sky, the pay-TV group owned by America's Comcast, is preparing to take over the broadcasting heart of ITV, one of Britain's best-known television companies — and is promising to keep spending heavily on British programming to smooth the way, [The Guardian reported](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/28/sky-makes-spending-pledge-as-it-prepares-takeover-of-itv-broadcasting-arm).

## What's being bought

Under terms reported by [Variety](https://variety.com/2026/tv/global/comcast-sky-itv-deal-terms-1236790155/) and other outlets, Sky would acquire ITV's "Media & Entertainment" division — the ITV channels and the ITVX streaming platform — in a deal valued at roughly £1.6 billion. Crucially, the takeover would split ITV in two: its production business, ITV Studios — the maker of programs such as "Coronation Street" — would remain a separate company. As part of the arrangement, ITV Studios would also take over Love Productions, the company behind "The Great British Bake Off," from Sky, [Deadline reported](https://deadline.com/2026/06/sky-itv-agree-terms-deal-love-productions-to-itv-studios-1236967160/). The deal has not been formally announced and could be unveiled in the coming weeks.

## The £2bn sweetener

To reassure stakeholders about the future of flagship British shows, Sky has signaled it will commit around £2 billion of programming spending with ITV Studios over five years — a guarantee of continued investment in series like "Coronation Street" even as their broadcaster changes hands. For Sky, the pledge helps address a central worry about such takeovers: that a US-owned buyer might hollow out the supply of distinctively British content.

## Why Sky wants it

The logic is scale. Traditional broadcasters across Europe are under intense pressure from global streamers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, and from the migration of advertising to tech platforms like Google and Meta. Combining Sky's subscription business with ITV's free-to-air channels and ITVX streaming would give the merged operation greater reach and a stronger position to compete for viewers and ad revenue. For ITV, selling the broadcasting arm would let it concentrate on its growing studios business while shedding exposure to a volatile advertising market.

## The concerns

The deal faces significant hurdles and criticism. It will require scrutiny from Britain's regulators — the Competition and Markets Authority, the media watchdog Ofcom, and the culture secretary — over competition and the future of ITV's public-service broadcasting duties, including regional news. Questions about news plurality are likely to feature, given ITV's stake in Independent Television News (ITN) alongside Sky's own Sky News. Broadcasting unions, including Bectu, have warned of potential job losses if the merged company cuts duplicated roles. Supporters counter that consolidation may be the only way for legacy British broadcasters to survive against far larger global rivals — making this a test of whether scale can save public-service television, or erode it.