Sky and ITV have agreed terms over their £1.6B ($2.1B) acquisition deal and the move that will shake up British broadcasting could be announced in the next fortnight, according to Reuters.
As part of the deal, Reuters confirmed previous reporting that The Great British Bake Off producer Love Productions will be sold to ITV Studios.
The deal is for ITV’s Media & Entertainment arm, not its Studios production and distribution division, and it first emerged late last year. In May, ITV followed up by saying it remained in “active discussions” with Sky. Reuters said it is now being finalized by lawyers and an announcement could be made in the next couple of weeks.
ITV Studios, which makes the likes of Love Island and Squid Game: The Challenge, will remain separate and will add Love Productions to its stable, a huge boon given the Great British Bake Off IP. Sky bought 70% of Love in 2014 and the remainder in 2020. Founder Richard McKerrow exited last year.
Earlier this month, ITV boss Carolyn McCall gave an impassioned speech at a leaders conference about why the Media & Entertainment biz, aka ITV channels and streamer ITVX, is “extremely resilient and cash generative.”
The network is “recognized by shareholders as a strong business, not what it was six or seven years ago,” she said. ITV’s share price rose 2.5% this morning.
Sky is owned by U.S. media giant Comcast but we are told Sky is very much leading on the ITV deal with its parent in the background. The deal will require approval from Ofcom and the Competition Markets Authority and will lead to question marks over what will happen to Sky and ITV’s respective news operations. ITV News is run by Channel 4 and 5 newsmaker ITN.
ITV declined comment. Deadline has reached out to Sky for comment.


