Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced she is "minded to intervene" in Sky's proposed £1.6bn acquisition of ITV's media and entertainment division, citing concerns about free expression and news diversity in Britain.
Nandy said she is considering issuing a public interest intervention notice (PIIN) to the Competition and Markets Authority and regulator Ofcom to force a formal investigation. She identified four public interest grounds for potential intervention: free expression of opinion in news media, a range of views across UK news media, diversity of media ownership across the country, and a wide variety of programmes available to viewers.
The culture secretary's concerns center on the combined market share of Sky News and ITV News. Together, they command a 26% share of linear TV news viewers. When combined with the BBC's share, the merged entity would control 86% of the linear TV news market. Nandy noted that regional audiences, particularly in the North of England and the devolved nations, rely heavily on broadcast news as their primary information source and could be disproportionately affected.
Sky and ITV announced the deal in July. It includes ITV's free-to-air TV channels and the ITV X streaming service but excludes ITV Studios, which produces shows like Love Island and I'm a Celebrity. Both companies argue the merger would help them compete with global streaming giants like Netflix.
In their responses, Sky committed to protecting ITV's identity, free-to-air services, and public service broadcasting obligations while keeping ITV News and Sky News as distinct editorial voices. ITV welcomed the intervention letter and said the deal would help it compete with streaming platforms while benefiting viewers, advertisers, and UK creative industries. Both companies have until 20 October to respond formally to Nandy's concerns.
Nandy indicated she would need to introduce new legislation to extend public interest considerations to on-demand programming if she decides to intervene, as current law does not cover streaming services in merger reviews.