NANDY SAYS SHE MAY INTERVENE IN SKY-ITV MEDIA DEAL

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has said she is "minded to intervene" in Sky's proposed £1.6bn takeover of ITV's media and entertainment division, according to a statement to Parliament and a letter sent to both companies. Nandy said there were reasonable grounds to believe the deal could affect free expression in the media and the range of views available in Britain's news landscape. She is considering issuing a public interest intervention notice, which would force the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the tie-up. Sky said it would "carefully consider" Nandy's letter and "engage constructively" with any review, adding that it remained confident the deal would "create a stronger British media". ITV has not yet issued its own public response, according to the reports.

Sky and ITV announced the deal in July, with Sky agreeing to buy ITV's free-to-air television channels and its ITVX streaming service, though not ITV Studios, the production arm behind programmes including Love Island and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here. Nandy's letter said Sky News and ITV News together account for a 26% share of television news viewers, and that the BBC and a combined Sky/ITV would control 86% of the news market. She said viewers in the North of England, other UK nations, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds could be particularly affected, as these groups rely more heavily on broadcast news. Sky said it had made commitments to protect ITV's identity, its free-to-air services and public service broadcasting obligations, and to keep ITV News and Sky News editorially distinct.

Nandy has the power to intervene under the Enterprise Act, which allows ministers to act on public interest grounds including media plurality. ITV is required under its public service broadcasting licence to provide a free-to-air service until at least 2034. The companies have said the deal would create a stronger competitor to streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Plus. Any formal intervention notice would trigger a CMA investigation into the deal's effect on competition and public interest considerations.