What Sky buying ITV could mean for your favourite shows

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: What Sky buying ITV could mean for your favourite showsImage source, ITVImage caption, Love Island, hosted by Maya Jama, is said to generate ITV's biggest 16 to 34 audience ByKatie Razzall Culture and Media EditorPublished6 minutes agoOne of the biggest takeovers in British media history is about to take place with the creation of a new British media company - albeit American owned. Sky is expected to buy ITV's TV and streaming channels with the announcement likely imminent, but if you don't read the business pages, you might have missed it. The pay-TV, broadband and mobile company, owned by the American company Comcast, has been in talks to buy ITV's media and entertainment business including ITVX since last year.

For Sky, buying the broadcast arm of Britain's most watched commercial public service broadcaster makes sense. It will get access to millions of people, as well as scale and prominence on a free to air platform. It's believed to want to create a commercial streamer that will be a true rival to the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus in the UK.

The Details

But what does it mean for you? Your favourite shows aren't going anywhere… yetImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK, launching in 1955 as competition for the BBCCrucially, 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 , 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. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The international ITV Studios production and distribution arm is not part of the deal and will continue as a separate companyOf 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).

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.