Sky-ITV: UK Competition Bodies Given Greenlight To Investigate $2.2B Deal By Culture Secretary

November 4, 2026 5:08am

The UK Culture Secretary has taken her examination of the £1.6B ($2.1B) Sky–ITV acquisition to the next stage by asking competition bodies Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to formally scrutinize the deal.

Lisa Nandy said she was “minded to intervene” last month and has now told Ofcom and the CMA to report back by January 27. Following these reports, she will decide whether to refer the deal for a more detailed investigation by the CMA.

Nandy is intervening over areas of concern including “the need for free expression of opinion in news media,” “the need for a sufficient plurality of views in news media in each market” and “the need for the availability throughout the United Kingdom of a wide range of broadcasting, on-demand programmes or both.”

On the latter, she revealed today she will officially bring forward legislation that would update the latter to include streaming. She previously said this was under consideration.

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