“ITV Studios is not for sale,” Carolyn McCall, boss of U.K. media conglomerate ITV, firmly told Variety three years ago.
Despite persistent rumors the global production powerhouse was going to be snapped up – including potentially by Banijay or RedBird IMI – McCall has stayed true to her word.
What few could have imagined back then was that ITV itself was for sale. On Monday, after months of negotiations McCall confirmed the 71-year-old public service broadcaster is set to be acquired by Comcast-owned Sky in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion. What’s more, McCall admits it was ITV who approached Sky; she told investors it was “the company at the top of the list” to partner with.
Of course there is every chance ITV Studios will still be sold, despite McCall’s plans for it to stand alone as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange, with buyers already said to be circling. And the Sky/ITV deal will need to get past regulators, a process McCall admitted could take up to two years.
But for now, it seems yet another U.K. broadcaster has slipped out of British hands, following in the footsteps of fellow PSB Channel 5, which was acquired by Viacom in 2014 and Sky itself, which was acquired by Comcast in 2018.
