Sky's £1.6bn ITV takeover could transform how Britain watches the beautiful game

Announced quietly on the day of England's 3-2 World Cup round-of-16 victory over Mexico — in the early hours of the morning to boot — the news that Sky had agreed to buy UK broadcaster ITV's media and entertainment arm, including its free-to-air channels and streaming service, is arguably a far bigger story than the scoreline.

The deal is worth up to £1.6billion (US$2.1 billion) and, according to industry experts, could dramatically change the way football is broadcast and consumed across Britain.

It is important to note the transaction has not yet been completed and is subject to regulatory approval, and if approved, completion is not expected until the second half of next year. But it would represent a major shakeup in the UK television industry if it goes through. In the press release announcing the deal, Sky said the partnership would “create a commercial streaming champion for the UK”.

Why does Sky want ITV, and what's in it for both sides?

“For Sky, if we focus on the sports perspective, you're looking at two main positives,” Dan Harraghy, a sports media analyst at Ampere Analysis, tells The Athletic. “Firstly, being able to move certain bits of content, or certain matches, onto ITV channels can act as a bit of a shop window for Sky coverage. Then, with the reach of something like an ITV, being able to move content there attracts more eyeballs and therefore you're going to generate greater ad revenue, so the advertisers are going to really like that. So there is a kind of a monetisable play there, as well as a strategic on.”

ITV said it can “already reach around 40million people every week and serves more than 16.5m monthly digital users. Combined with Sky, the business would account for around 20 per cent of all in-home viewing in the UK, second to the BBC and ahead of YouTube.”

In terms of resources, Paolo Pescatore, a media and technology analyst at PP Foresight, noted that Sky generated £10.4billion in revenue in 2024, compared with £2.1bn for ITV's media and entertainment arm. “That makes Sky roughly five times the revenue scale of the ITV business it is acquiring, even though ITV brings significant incremental audience reach,” Pescatore explains.

Harraghy pointed to the scale of their sports spend, Sky ploughs around £2billion annually into sports rights while Ampere Analysis estimates ITV has paid roughly £200m this year. “You're part of an entity that has deeper pockets,” he says. “Being able to work in conjunction with Sky, when negotiating rights, for example, puts you in a position of strength.”

More football free-to-air, or more behind the paywall?

As part of the deal, Sky will acquire channels ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and ITV Quiz and streaming service ITVX. It will also become an indirect 20 per cent shareholder in ITV when the purchase is finalised. The £1.6billion deal consists of £1.2bn in cash, Sky-owned Love Productions (maker of shows including The Great British Bake-Off, valued at £200m) and up to £200m in performance-related earn-outs.

So what could that look like in reality for football fans? Announcing the news, Sky said in its press release that “the combined business will deliver more sport free-to-air on ITV services than ever before.”

“There is a possibility of more matches on free-to-air,” Tim Westcott, who leads Omdia's research on TV and video programming, says. “If Sky can carve out some of its rights from pay TV and put them it, without undermining the consumer who's paying a subscription for Sky Sports or Now TV, but bring the bigger audience that there would be to events, whether it's the EFL or Premier League, that's what they would aim to do.”

Harraghy says there is an opportunity for Sky to show both live and highlights-package content on a free-to-air service. “There is an opportunity for Premier League matches to move in front of the paywall,” he adds. “There's an opportunity to also put highlights programming there as well, it could be an additional competitor to something like (the BBC's) Match of the Day, being able to put digital highlights and clips on ITVX as well.”

Risks and the 'Trojan Horse' worry

ITV currently holds the rights to several ‘crown jewel’ events that must be made available free-to-air, including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, rugby union's World Cup and horse racing's Grand National. Under rules established by the UK government in 1996, these must be offered free to air. ITV also holds rights to rugby union's Six Nations, the FA Cup (excluding the final) and English Football League.

However, David Murray, a commercial sport and negotiation consultant, warned that being owned by Sky risks turning ITV into a ‘Trojan Horse’. “It could push and test the limits of listed events with the ultimate goal of undermining them,” he says. “It also makes an ITV bid for the World Cup or Euros more likely, with some content ending up on Sky.”

Mike Darcey, formerly of Sky and now the author of the Tellynomics blog, conceded there could be cause for concern about a campaign to relax some of the ‘crown jewel’ rules. “I'm not sure that every single game in a 64-team FIFA World Cup will remain listed, so Curacao vs Iceland might not always be free,” he suggested.

Battling the streaming giants

Sky explained in its press release how the UK media market is “undergoing profound and rapid transformation... as competition for audiences intensifies, scale matters more than ever in order to compete with global streaming giants states and grouping in the UK”.

“The threat to Sky are your big digital global platforms that can outbid them if they so choose,” Murray says. Harraghy noted we're starting to see streamers acquiring sports rights in the UK more, pointing to Paramount taking the Champions League rights (from 2027 to 2031) as “that's the direction of travel in the market.” Darcey describes the looming deal as a strong response to global streamers, concluding: “In that battle, I think that serious domestic focus and scale, combining strength in subscription and streaming with a strong spine in sport, is a serious player.”