What Sky buying ITV could mean for your favourite shows

Crucially, this takeover won't mean your favourite ITV shows are suddenly moved behind a paywall. Caroline Frost, TV and podcast editor at Radio Times, says ITV is required by law to provide a free-to-air service until at least 2034 due to the public service broadcasting licence. "Gradually, though, content which might debut on free/live-to-air ITV might end up on a subscription platform," Frost says. In the short to medium-term, the big shows - Coronation Street, Love Island, Emmerdale, I'm a Celebrity - won't look any different. You'll still find them on ITV and ITVX, and they'll still be made by ITV Studios - that's ITV's production arm, which owns more than 60 production companies in Britain and around the world. They also make programmes including Line of Duty for the BBC, Rivals for Disney Plus, and America's most streamed show, Love Island USA. ITV Studios isn't being bought by Sky. If the deal goes ahead, it will become a company in its own right (ITV Studios PLC), still owned by the current ITV shareholders. Part of the Sky takeover agreement is expected to be a "supply deal", in other words, that ITV Studios continues to make those ITV shows and that they remain on ITV. Of course, at some point Sky could decommission some ITV shows - or renegotiate their contracts. You don't take over another company without believing there are savings to be made (and some are pointing to synergies that could be made on the tech platform side, with ITVX and Sky's streaming services potentially merged in the future). Longer term, Frost believes users of both current streaming platforms ITVX and NOW can expect to see more "integrated services, for example, bundling titles in terms of genre instead of channel, as a natural way to cut production costs, and to cross-advertise". But when it comes to programmes, they won't be able to make significant changes to those beloved shows until the supply deal comes to an end. Producer Patrick Spence thinks the deal is "exciting". He won a BAFTA for Mr Bates vs The Post Office which was a huge hit on ITV in 2024, with around 15 million tuning in. He's currently producing Two Birds, a thriller starring Sheridan Smith for ITV. He's also made dramas for Sky and told me ITV and Sky "are very good bedfellows in many ways". "When they get behind a show, they really get behind it," Spence says. "They want to make water cooler shows that bring audiences together." He believes the deal is a sign that the regularly predicted end of so-called linear TV is overplayed. "We get told so often about the death of broadcast TV," he adds. "For producers it's said we're looking at a cliff edge where the only places that will be left for us to sell our programmes will be the streamers, or some version of BBC, ITV, Channel 4 all joining together. "What I take away from this deal as a producer and an audience member is that Sky must really like and believe in ITV to be only buying the network. They think there is a business to be grown and driven that uses the audience reach and loyalty that the ITV network has." For many, Sky is best known for its sports coverage (the majority of televised Premier League games are still shown on Sky Sports, for example, and it now has the rights to broadcast Formula 1 in the UK until 2034). Part of the appeal of the takeover from its perspective is that, as a public service broadcaster, ITV can bid for the 'listed' crown jewel tournaments that have to be shown live on a free-to-air channel such as the Olympic Games, Grand National and British Grand Prix. It's why Wimbledon is on the BBC and why the BBC and ITV show the World Cup - which is bringing in millions of eyeballs (and - for ITV - millions in advertising revenue). Former ITV Chairman Peter Bazalgette told me "sport is a massive driver of live viewing and advertising revenue". "Putting together the sports powerhouse of Sky's football Premier League deals with the sport that is on ITV - the World Cup, the Rugby Six Nations - is probably one of the most attractive things for Comcast." For audiences it could also mean in future you'll see Sky using ITV's platforms as a shop window for programmes that are usually behind its paywall - rights-depending, perhaps a Premier League match shown free on ITV as a way to entice new subscribers to Sky platforms. It isn't just some of Sky's sport offer that could turn up on ITV. You might find the first series of its Eddie Redmayne drama The Day of the Jackal there, ahead of the premiere of series two on its subscription channel. Or its comedy show Saturday Night Live UK, which could reach millions more if it was platformed on the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster. Coronation Street may no longer get the audiences it once did. But it is still watched by four to five million people. ITV's top shows are still some of the best performers in the UK. Sky will be buying access to those audiences. A Sky show like The Dyers' Caravan Park which sees father-daughter duo Danny and Dani Dyer trying to revive the British holiday industry could potentially reach a much wider audience on ITV after this deal.