Culture Secretary minded to intervene in Sky's ITV takeover deal

Summarised from 6 outlets · 10 reports · Updated 15 Oct, 14:51 · Archive

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says she is minded to intervene in Sky's £1.6 billion takeover of ITV's media and entertainment division.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said she is minded to intervene in Sky's proposed £1.6 billion takeover of ITV's media and entertainment division, announced in July. The deal would see ITV's terrestrial television channels and streaming service ITVX merge with Sky to create a new entity intended to challenge global streaming giants.

Nandy told Sky and ITV she is considering issuing a public interest intervention notice to the competition watchdog, which would force it to investigate the tie-up. She said there were reasonable grounds to believe the deal might affect free expression of opinion in news media, the plurality of views in news media, and the need for a sufficient number of people with control in the sector.

Beyond these traditional broadcasting concerns, Nandy said she was considering intervention on a new public interest consideration: maintaining a wide range of high-quality and varied programming on on-demand platforms. She noted that current legislation does not cover the effect of a merger on streaming or on-demand services.

In a statement, Nandy said: 'Having considered the anticipated merger, I am of the view that there are reasonable grounds to believe that it might affect availability of a wide range of high-quality and varied programming on the on-demand platforms that are now widely used by UK audiences.' She added that if she decided to intervene on this basis, she would bring forward legislation amending section 58 of the current act to extend public interest considerations to on-demand programmes.

Sky responded by saying it would 'carefully consider' the culture secretary's letter and 'engage constructively' with the review. The company said: 'We remain confident that bringing Sky and ITV's media and entertainment business together will create a stronger British media.' ITV welcomed the letter, saying the deal would help it compete with global streaming platforms and benefit viewers, advertisers and the UK creative industries.

The takeover does not include ITV Studios, ITV's production arm which makes programmes including Love Island and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. Both companies hope the merger will strengthen their position against streaming giants such as Netflix.

Sky and ITV now have until 20 October to respond to Nandy's initial concerns.

How it is being reported

• Culture secretary Lisa Nandy ‘minded to intervene’ in Sky takeover of ITVCulture secretary Lisa Nandy is “minded to intervene” in Sky’s proposed £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s media and entertainment arm. In a statement to MPs, she said: “Having considered the anticipated merger, I am of the view that there are reasonable grounds to believe that it might affect availability of a wide range of high-quality and [...]City AM · 15 Oct, 15:20
• Culture Secretary may intervene following £1.6 billion Sky and ITV dealLisa Nandy is considering intervention on the basis of a new public interest consideration to maintain a wide range of broadcasting.Independent Business · 15 Oct, 15:11
• Culture Secretary may intervene following £1.6 billion Sky and ITV dealLisa Nandy is considering intervention on the basis of a new public interest consideration to maintain a wide range of broadcasting.Evening Standard · 15 Oct, 14:25
• Culture Secretary may intervene following £1.6 billion Sky and ITV dealLisa Nandy is considering intervention on the basis of a new public interest consideration to maintain a wide range of broadcasting.Independent Business · 15 Oct, 14:25
• Nandy 'minded to intervene' in Sky's £1.6bn takeover of ITV entertainment armThe culture secretary says the deal could affect free expression in the media and the variety of Britain's news landscape.BBC Business · 15 Oct, 14:16
• Culture Secretary may intervene following £1.6 billion Sky and ITV dealLisa Nandy is considering intervention on the basis of a new public interest consideration to maintain a wide range of broadcasting.Independent Business · 15 Oct, 13:56
• Culture Secretary may intervene following £1.6 billion Sky and ITV dealLisa Nandy is considering intervention on the basis of a new public interest consideration to maintain a wide range of broadcasting.Evening Standard · 15 Oct, 13:56
• Nandy 'minded to intervene' in Sky's proposed £1.6bn takeover of ITVCulture Secretary Lisa Nandy says she is “minded to intervene” in Sky’s proposed £1.6 billion takeover of ITV’s media and entertainment division.The Independent · 15 Oct, 13:42
• Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says she is 'minded to intervene' in Sky's proposed £1.6bn takeover of ITVSky's takeover of ITV may be blocked after the culture secretary said she was 'minded to intervene' on the deal.This is Money · 15 Oct, 13:14
• Nandy 'minded to intervene' in Sky-ITV dealThe culture secretary has warned she is "minded" to intervene in Sky's £1.6bn deal to buy ITV's broadcast and streaming operations.Sky News · 15 Oct, 11:54

In this story: Lisa Nandy · Sky · ITV · Netflix · United Kingdom

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