Three big problems with ITV’s talks to sell television business to Sky: price, politics and regulation | Nils Pratley

Fri, 07 Nov 2025

On price, is £1.6bn the most the media and entertainment arm could fetch? The other hurdles look just as immense

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

Do a sum-of-the-parts analysis on ITV, City analysts have been saying for years, and you can come up with valuations way above the depressed share price. It’s just a question of someone making a decent offer for one of the two halves of the corporate entity – either ITV Studios, the production side that makes programmes such as Coronation Street, or the division that actually broadcasts the content and sells the advertising slots.

Now someone has turned up: Sky, which was bought by the US giant Comcast for £30bn in 2018, has made a £1.6bn approach for the broadcasting operation. ITV’s share price gained 16% on Friday but, at 78p, it still stands way below some of the misty-eyed theoretical valuations. Why?