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

Fri, 07 Nov 2025

US telecom firm Comcast aims to buy media and entertainment arm for £1.6bn but analysts question valuation, potential job cuts and regulatory concerns

• Three big problems with ITV’s talks with Sky: price, politics and regulation
  

ITV has said it is in preliminary talks to sell its broadcasting arm to the parent company of Sky in a £1.6bn deal, sending shares soaring.

Comcast, the US telecoms company that own Sky and NBCUniversal, hopes to snap up ITV’s media and entertainment operations, which include its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform.