Sky makes £2bn spending pledge as it prepares takeover of ITV broadcasting arm

The Rovers Return pub featured in Coronation Street. The talks involve separating ITV’s channels and streaming platform ITVX from ITV Studios. Photograph: ITV/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen The Rovers Return pub featured in Coronation Street. The talks involve separating ITV’s channels and streaming platform ITVX from ITV Studios. Photograph: ITV/Shutterstock Sky makes £2bn spending pledge as it prepares takeover of ITV broadcasting arm Deal could be announced in July and vow will safeguard future of shows such as Coronation Street and Love Island Sky has committed to spending £2bn on ITV’s studios business over the next five years as it hammers out a takeover of its broadcasting arm, a move that will safeguard the future of popular programmes such as Coronation Street and Love Island. Sky, owned by the US telecoms company Comcast, has been in talks for months to buy ITV’s media and entertainment operations, which include its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and the ITVX streaming platform. The £1.6bn takeover deal could be announced in early July, the Sunday Times reported . The negotiations involve the complex task of separating ITV’s channels and streaming platform ITVX from ITV Studios, which is not part of the acquisition and would remain as a standalone company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. ITV Studios is one of the world’s biggest production companies, which has made shows including Love Island , I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and the hit drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, and accounted for more than half of ITV’s £4.1bn annual revenues in 2025. ITV was created in 1955 to challenge the BBC’s monopoly on UK television, and its studios arm is made up of dozens of individual production companies. It counts rival broadcasters and streaming companies among its customers, including the pay-TV firm Sky . View image in fullscreen ITV Studios, one of the world’s biggest production companies, has made shows including Love Island. Photograph: ITV/Shutterstock Sky, which has a long-term commercial partnership with ITV , already buys shows from ITV Studios and is thought to have agreed to commit £2bn in spending over the next five years after the deal, continuing an existing arrangement. This is not new money, according to a source. This should help put the business on a solid footing and guarantee the future of a long list of programmes, which include the soap operas Coronation Street and Emmerdale as well as Love Island and I’m a Celebrity. As part of the deal, ITV Studios is expected to buy Love Productions , which makes The Great British Bake Off, from Sky. Analysts have predicted that Sky’s proposed takeover of ITV’s broadcast and streaming division would result in heavy job losses at ITV to remove duplication. Sky’s ambition is to create a streaming champion for the UK by buying ITVX, the country’s biggest free, ad-supported streaming service, competing with the subscription-based services Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.