Comcast-owned Sky just inked a deal to buy ITV’s broadcast and streaming unit for £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion). That’s right—the same ITV that brought you Love Island and Coronation Street is offloading its core asset. And Sky, which is basically a satellite TV relic that’s trying to stay alive in the streaming age, is paying a premium for it. Because nothing says “bold future” like doubling down on a dying business model.
Reuters broke the news Thursday, citing two sources close to the negotiations. The deal covers ITV’s media and entertainment division—the network that still pulls in millions of viewers every week for its soaps, reality shows, and football coverage. But here’s the thing: those millions are aging. Fast. The average ITV viewer is over 60, and they’re not being replaced by younger cord-cutters who’d rather watch TikTok or Netflix.
What Sky Is Actually Buying
Let’s not romanticize this. Sky isn’t buying a growth engine. It’s buying a cash cow that’s already been milked dry by private equity types. ITV’s broadcast unit includes its main channel, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and the ITV Hub streaming service. Together, they generated something like £1.8 billion in revenue last year—down 4% from the year before. The trend line is clear: linear TV ad revenue is falling off a cliff, and ITV’s streaming service is a distant third behind BBC iPlayer and Netflix.
So why is Comcast, through Sky, spending billions on this? Two words: content and scale. Sky wants ITV’s production arm—the part that makes shows like Broadchurch and The Voice. But more importantly, it wants the ad inventory. With this deal, Sky becomes the dominant player in UK TV advertising, controlling about 35% of the market. That’s a lot of leverage when you’re negotiating with Unilever and Procter & Gamble.
“This is a bet that linear TV isn’t dead—it’s just consolidating. And Sky wants to be the last one standing when the music stops.”
The Streaming Elephant in the Room
Of course, no media deal in 2026 can ignore the streaming wars. Sky has its own streaming service, Now (formerly Now TV), which has about 2 million subscribers. ITV Hub has about 3 million. Combined, they’re still a joke compared to Netflix’s 17 million UK subscribers or Disney+’s 10 million. But maybe that’s the point. Sky isn’t trying to compete with the global giants. It’s building a fortress around traditional TV audiences—the ones who still watch live football, live news, and broadcast events.
Here’s the cold reality: the UK TV market is shrinking. Total ad spend on linear TV dropped 8% last year. In five years, it’s projected to fall another 20%. Sky knows this. Comcast knows this. But they also know that ITV has the biggest commercial news operation in the UK, the rights to FIFA World Cup qualifiers until 2030, and a production studio that churns out content cheaply. In a world where Netflix spends $200 million a movie, ITV can produce a season of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! for a tenth of that and still pull in 10 million viewers.
The Price Tag: Smart or Suicide?
At £1.6 billion, Sky is paying about 8 times ITV’s broadcast EBITDA. That’s not cheap, but it’s not crazy either—especially when you consider that the UK government has been signaling it wants to protect “public service broadcasting.” ITV was vulnerable to a foreign takeover (yes, even though Sky is owned by Comcast, which is American, Sky is still considered “British enough” for these purposes). By buying ITV’s broadcast arm, Sky keeps it under UK ownership. That’s a nice political shield.
But let’s be honest: the strategic rationale is thin. If you believe linear TV has another decade of profitability, this deal makes sense. If you think streaming replaces everything in five years, Sky just bought a very expensive anchor. The truth is somewhere in the middle. ITV’s broadcast unit still generates about £500 million in operating profit. With Sky’s marketing muscle and cost synergies (expect thousands of job cuts), they can squeeze that to £600 million. That’s a decent return on £1.6 billion—assuming the decline doesn’t accelerate.
What Happens to ITV?
The ITV that’s left behind is a shell. It keeps ITV Studios (the production arm that sells shows globally), its international investments, and maybe a few niche channels. But without its flagship network, ITV is basically a content factory. It can still make money selling shows to Netflix and Amazon, but it loses the direct relationship with UK viewers. That’s a long-term problem.
Expect ITV’s share price to jump on the news, then drift lower as investors realize the company has been hollowed out. The real winners here are ITV’s management and bankers, who will walk away with big bonuses. The losers? ITV’s staff, who face an uncertain future under Sky’s cost-cutting regime.
The Bottom Line
Sky buying ITV’s broadcast unit is a classic media merger: it makes sense on paper, but it ignores the elephant—or rather, the streaming service—in the room. Comcast is betting that traditional TV has more life in it than the market thinks. They might be right. But if they’re wrong, this £1.6 billion will look like a tombstone on the grave of British television.
One thing’s for sure: the deal changes the UK media landscape overnight. Sky now owns the biggest commercial broadcaster, the biggest pay-TV platform, and a massive chunk of ad inventory. That’s a lot of power. Let’s hope they use it better than the old ITV did.
