Sky's ITV Takeover Bid Is Still Alive — But the Finish Line Keeps Moving
TL;DR: ITV confirmed May 13 that "active discussions" with Sky over a £1.6 billion sale of its broadcast network and streaming platform are ongoing. The deal excludes production company ITV Studios, needs UK regulatory sign-off, and could reshape how British television reaches global audiences — including India, where ITV-produced content already streams across Netflix, Disney+, and JioCinema.
ITV's CEO Carolyn McCall kept things measured in the Q1 2026 trading update: "We are focused on what we can control and remain on track to deliver our full year guidance." Translation: the broadcaster is mid-sale, watching revenues dip 2% in the very division it's trying to sell, and projecting calm anyway.
Whether that calm is warranted is another question entirely.
What's Actually on the Table — And What Isn't
Let's cut through the spin. ITV first flagged "preliminary discussions" with Comcast-owned Sky in November 2025. The proposed deal sits at £1.6 billion (roughly $2.2 billion) and covers ITV's Media & Entertainment division — the broadcast network, commissioning apparatus, and ITVX streaming platform. What it explicitly does not include: ITV Studios, the production and distribution arm behind Love Island, Rivals, and other international formats.
Here's the breakdown:
- Buyer: Sky (owned by Comcast)
- Asset: ITV's Media & Entertainment division — broadcast + ITVX
- Excluded: ITV Studios (stays independent)
- Deal value: £1.6 billion / ~$2.2 billion
- Status as of May 13, 2026: Active discussions, no regulatory filings yet
- Regulatory requirements: Ofcom and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) approval
The structure matters. Because Studios stays outside the deal, ITV's production output to Indian platforms — Love Island US on JioCinema, Rivals Season 2 on Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix's Skyscraper Live — should continue unchanged. That's the asset Sky actually wants: not a declining linear network, but ITVX, which recorded its best-ever streaming start to a year with total hours up 13%.
The Numbers That Don't Add Up — Yet
Here's what's striking: the M&E division ITV is trying to sell posted £477 million in Q1 2026 revenue — down 2% year-on-year. Not catastrophic. But when you're trying to convince buyers to hand over £1.6 billion, a declining top line isn't exactly a sales pitch.
The silver lining is digital. Advertising revenue climbed 14% in the quarter, and ITVX's streaming momentum is real. That's what Comcast is actually after — a way into UK streaming with genuine traction, not a sinking linear business.
Total ITV revenue stayed flat at £877 million across the group. Flat. Not growth, not collapse — which is probably the best a company mid-sale can hope for, honestly.
Where Indian Audiences Find This Content Right Now
ITVX isn't available in India, but the stuff it commissions absolutely is. Movie OTT's streaming tracker shows ITV Studios productions scattered across Indian platforms — and they're performing:
- Netflix India: Skyscraper Live and selected drama acquisitions
- Disney+ Hotstar India: Rivals Season 2 and co-productions
- JioCinema: Love Island US and format adaptations
- Amazon Prime Video India: additional ITV Studios drama titles
The deal's exclusion of ITV Studios is crucial here. Indian viewers can expect continued access to new ITV-produced content across these platforms — the Studios business model doesn't change. What could shift down the line: if Comcast ever decides to consolidate Studios back into Sky's ownership, which industry observers haven't ruled out as a longer-term play.
For anyone tracking where specific titles land regionally, Movie OTT updates its availability data regularly across all four major Indian platforms.
ITV Studios Is Having a Decent Year (The Part Nobody Talks About)
While the M&E sale dominates headlines, ITV Studios quietly grew 4% to £400 million in Q1 2026. The US market is firing — three major productions shipped in the quarter: Netflix's Skyscraper Live, Disney+'s Rivals Season 2, and Love Island US. All ITV Studios subsidiaries.
The UK side? Quieter. Lower volumes of soaps and daytime content. That's a pattern worth watching, because it signals a shift: ITV Studios is increasingly an international business, and its domestic output is shrinking as a proportion of total revenue. Most coverage frames this sale as a story about Sky acquiring a broadcaster, but the more telling development is that ITV Studios is quietly becoming a company that doesn't need ITV the channel at all — its three biggest Q1 hits all shipped to rival platforms, not to ITVX. Whether that's strategic repositioning or slow erosion of the UK production pipeline, the company hasn't fully answered.
Why Skepticism Is Built Into the Deal's DNA
Here's the thing nobody mentions: ITV has been here before. Not this exact scenario, but the pattern of "significant strategic discussions" that quietly dissolve is baked into recent history. The Channel 4 privatisation saga dragged from 2022 through mid-2024 before the incoming Labour government killed it outright, burning through two Culture Secretaries and an estimated £30 million in advisory fees with nothing to show for it. BritBox, ITV's joint streaming venture with the BBC, launched in 2019 promising to be a "British Netflix" and by 2025 had fewer than 1 million UK subscribers (Netflix UK had roughly 17 million). The company's good at announcing strategic direction. Execution is a different story.
Sky, though, is a genuinely formidable acquirer. Comcast dropped £30 billion on Sky itself back in 2018 and has the muscle to integrate British media assets. The problem isn't Sky's capacity. It's the regulatory path, and it's genuinely uncertain.
The CMA has blocked consolidation deals that looked more straightforward than this one. A combined Sky-ITV broadcasting entity would control an extraordinary chunk of UK commercial television, and regulators have shown zero appetite for waving through media sector consolidation lately. The timeline could stretch well into 2027, and completion isn't guaranteed.
My honest take: the deal logic is sound — Sky gets a linear-plus-streaming bundle, ITVX gets distribution muscle — but the execution risk is enormous.
What to Actually Watch For
McCall flagged a strong July ahead, driven by advertising around the FIFA World Cup (ITV shares broadcast rights with the BBC). That's a meaningful revenue catalyst, but it doesn't change the underlying question of where ITV's M&E business sits in five years.
Watch for these signals that the deal is moving from "active discussions" to something real:
- CMA pre-notification filing. Hasn't happened yet. When it does, talks have moved from exploratory to formal.
- ITVX's role in Freely. This free streaming platform (backed by public broadcasters) raises real questions. Does ITVX stay in Freely post-acquisition, or does Sky pull it into its own ecosystem? That answer tells you a lot about Comcast's longer-term intent.
- Studios consolidation rumors. The exclusion of ITV Studios from this deal is explicit — but future restructuring isn't off the table. Keep an eye on whether that ever becomes a negotiation point.
Active Talks, Uncertain Outcome
As of May 13, 2026, the ITV-Sky deal remains in "active discussions" with no confirmed timeline, no regulatory filings confirmed, and no certainty of completion. ITV promised to "update the market in due course" — which is the most non-committal thing a company can say.
For anyone tracking how this reshapes British content availability across global platforms — especially India — Movie OTT's regional tracking has current availability as the picture continues to shift.
This story isn't resolved. Not even close. We shall see.
