Sky remains actively engaged in discussion with ITV about acquiring its media and entertainment business. Reporting its annual results, ITV confirmed that it was still in discussions with Sky regarding a possible sale. Any acquisition has strategic consequences for the future of Everyone TV and the Freely online television platform, which competes directly with Sky Glass and Sky Stream, both backed by Comcast.
ITV first disclosed in November 2025 that it was in discussions with Sky about a possible acquisition of its media and entertainment division in a deal valued at £1.6 billion. That would exclude ITV studios, the production arm of the company.
ITV notes that there can be no certainty as to whether a transaction will take place and an update will be made in due course.
Such an acquisition would require regulatory approval and clearance on competition grounds. Together ITV and Sky would control the majority of the television advertising market in the United Kingdom, but arguably only a smaller proportion of the total advertising market.
That would leave the ITV Studios arm as a separate asset that could be acquired and possibly combined with another production business.
It was recently announced that All3Media would be merged into Banijay, to be equally owned by the French Banijay Group and RedBird IMI, which is led by Jeff Zucker, former president of CNN and previously chief executive of NBC Universal. Asked about possible interest in ITV Studios, François Riahi, the chief executive of Banijay Group, said: “Consolidation is the name of the game.”
Any acquisition of the ITV media and entertainment business by Sky is likely to include ITVX, the online platform developed by ITV. ITV says that it has recouped its entire investment in ITVX four years earlier than projected through online advertising.
It would also call into question the continuing commitment of ITV to Everyone TV and its Freely platform.
Everyone TV is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. Freely specifically excludes Sky.
If Sky, which is owned by Comcast, were to acquire the ITV media and entertainment business, it would potentially get a seat at the Freely table. Or it could pull its chair away and choose to promote its own online platforms.
Sky Stream and Sky Glass compete directly with Freely for the future of online television viewing in the United Kingdom. Sky also operates the NOW online platform, which is available in around 2 million homes.
The number of monthly active users for ITVX rose 12% to 16.5 million, with streaming hours up 16% to 2.3 billion.
While annual revenue for ITV Studios was up 5% at £2,130 million, revenue for the media and entertainment business was down 5% at £1,991 million on a weaker television advertising market, with total external revenue up just 1% at £3,511 million.
Statutory profit before tax was down 35% at £338 million, while adjusted profit was down 5% at £448 million.