ITV plc has confirmed that it is in preliminary discussions to sell its media and entertainment (M&E) business to Sky for £1.6 billion.
The strategy focuses on building a UK-based streaming giant but excludes ITV’s production arm.
This division covers the company’s existing broadcast channels and operations, which rely heavily on advertising revenue.
The talks come as ITV reported a solid third-quarter performance, with results ahead of market expectations despite a softer advertising market.
Total group revenue rose 2% year to date to £2.8bn, driven by strong growth at ITV Studios (up 11%) and digital advertising (up 15%) through the continued success of streaming platform ITVX.
Advertising remained resilient, with total advertising revenue flat in Q3 and down 5% year to date, following a strong 2024 comparison boosted by the men’s Euros.
The business expects advertising to fall around 9% in Q4 amid wider economic uncertainty ahead of the UK Budget, but has identified £35 million of temporary savings to offset the softer demand.
The company said it remains on track to meet its full-year targets, including at least £750m in digital revenues by 2026.
Sky, which is owned by US giant Comcast, becomes the latest in a string of businesses to explore an acquisition of ITV.
The news follows Liberty Global’s decision last month to sell roughly half of its long-held 10% stake in the broadcaster.
Liberty, founded by billionare John Malone, sold around 191m shares worth approximately £140m, cutting its holding to about 5%, which sent ITV’s share price sharply lower at the time.
However, this morning’s news has had the opposite effect, with shares in the group having risen by over 15% within the first hour of trading to 78.31p.
The FTSE 250 company is up by nearly 6% so far in 2025 and has a market cap of just under £3bn.
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