ITV shares soar as it holds talks to sell television business to Sky

ITV has told the market it is in preliminary talks to sell its broadcasting arm to the parent company of Sky in a £1.6bn deal, sending shares soaring s high as 18% in early trading.

Comcast, the US telecom company which also owns NBCUniversal, is looking to snap up ITV’s media and entertainment arm, which includes its free-to-air TV channels in the UK, as well as its ITVX streaming platform.

However, the deal does not involve the broadcaster’s programme-making arm ITV Studios, one of the world’s biggest production companies. The division, which has made shows including Love Island, I’m a Celebrity and the hit drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, has been the subject of separate takeover talks.

ITV said there could “be no certainty” about the terms of a potential sale, or whether the sale would even take place.

The comments sent ITV’s share price climbing by as much as 18% at the start of trading on Friday morning to 80.9p, meaning its shares are now up almost 9% year-to-date. That makes it the top riser on the FTSE 250 index, and lifts the company’s total value to about £3bn, up from just over £2.5bn last night.

However, the combination of the TV ad sales operations of ITV and Sky could prompt competition concerns, giving Comcast potential control of more than 70% of the UK market.

Industry sources have said that Sky may have to look at remedies including relinquishing its third-party sales deals, which include representing ad sales for Channel 5 and Disney in the UK. That may require the competitions regulator to reconsider how it measures the ad market to include digital advertising.

“There can be no certainty as to the terms upon which any potential sale may be agreed or whether any transaction will take place,” ITV said in a market statement on Friday. “A further announcement will be made in due course if appropriate.”

News of the possible deal came shortly after ITV reported on Thursday that it would “temporarily” cut £35m from its budgets – including by delaying some shows into 2026 and cutting marketing spending – as it deals with the poor macroeconomic environment and advertiser uncertainty before the budget later this month.

The company said it expected advertising revenues, which still account for most of its income, to fall by 9% in the omportant fourth-quarter advertising period in the run-up to Christmas.