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The possibility of Comcast purchasing ITV has sparked apprehensions about the consequences on British public service broadcasting, a situation that Channel 4’s new top boss, joining from a senior post at Sky, will be all too well aware of.

Sky’s commercial director, Priya Dogra, will now be expected to spearhead efforts to block her former employer’s takeover plan to safeguard Channel 4.

The envisaged merger of Sky and ITV’s broadcasting operation would leave Channel 4 a relative commercial minnow in the realm of TV and digital ad sales, reviving debate of the need to re-examine some form of tie-up with the BBC for future viability.

Foremost Worry: The Future of News

However, it is the likely impacts on the future of news output that are causing the most immediate alarm for many within the television industry.

The unexpected announcement last month that Comcast, which owns assets including Universal Studios and bought Rupert Murdoch’s Sky for £30bn in 2018, makes commercial sense. Traditional broadcasters are facing a long-term existential threat as audiences and revenues continue to swiftly shift to global digital players such as Meta, Google, Amazon, and Netflix.

“Comcast’s advance for ITV is causing unease among media watchers, with specific worry for news provision.”

However, the potential £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s broadcasting arm and streaming service, which would end 70 years of self-rule, is full of regulatory, political, and competition issues.

Overnight, Comcast would control Sky News and ITV News—including its extensive regional news operation—and become the majority shareholder in ITN, which produces news for ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5.

While Comcast’s 40% stake in ITN would not be a majority holding—other shareholders include the owner of the Daily Mail, Thomson Reuters, and Informa—it would still be heavily involved in the news output of most of the main commercial broadcasters.

“If a deal is completed, the fate of ITN is an critical one that will focus minds politically,” notes one senior TV executive. “Effectively, they will be involved in the news output of all the biggest non-BBC channels.”

Funding Guarantees and Regulatory Scrutiny

Comcast guaranteed to keep funding Sky News for a decade, increasing its funding annually in line with inflation, as part of its 2018 takeover of Sky. As that commitment draws closer to ending, concerns have been raised about whether the US company will continue to fully fund Sky News, which has an annual budget of £100m but is thought to lose money of as much as £80m.

It is believed that any deal to buy ITV would include pledges not to seek permission from media regulator Ofcom to change the conditions of its public service broadcast licence, which includes obligations to national and regional news.

“There are certainly questions about plurality,” says Stewart Puvis, a former ITN chief executive. “Theoretically, Comcast could, say, merge Sky and ITV News and use its position as a 40% shareholder in ITN to assert control... I would hope Comcast understand ways of solving these problems.”

An Endangered Model

British TV executives have previously warned of the risk posed to the UK’s system of public service broadcasters (PSBs) by large parts of the industry being snapped up by US corporations.

Recently, Ofcom published a report warning that public service television, such as news provision and UK-focused content, risks becoming an “endangered species” as viewers migrate to US online platforms and streamers.

The watchdog also revealed data showing that YouTube had surpassed ITV to become the UK’s second most-watched media service, behind only the BBC, with it and Netflix now the two most popular first TV destinations among young people.

A Call for Collaboration

There are those who believe that a Sky takeover of ITV, against the landscape of the viewer shift to mostly US digital companies, indicates the need for closer partnership between the UK’s biggest broadcasters.

“The UK requires and deserves its own part of mass media which isn’t US controlled,” says a second broadcasting executive. “It’s a national strategic imperative. I think the government needs to work out how the boards of the PSBs have a new part to their remits that compels them to collaborate.”

Given that advertisers follow eyeballs, a combination of Sky and ITV could create a British TV and streaming giant, with the two companies’ sales houses controlling a dominant share of total ad spend on traditional TV and broadcasters’ streaming services.

The CMA's Role

Any deal will prompt an investigation by the UK competition watchdog. Sky is hoping the regulator will widen the scope of the ad market to include the impact of giants like YouTube and Facebook.

“I think it will get cleared,” says Alex DeGroote, a media analyst. “Comcast will do everything it can to say it will maintain the PSB status quo... But you don’t buy to ultimately keep everything the same. ITV plus Sky would give them a hugely dominant position in the TV ad market.”

The Precarious Position of Channel 4 and the BBC

Channel 4, which relies on advertising for the vast majority of its income, now faces a weakened BBC as a potential partner and a formidable commercial threat from a combined Sky-ITV.

“We may at some point end up in that situation because of the deep cumulative cuts to the BBC’s funding and because Channel 4, too, has a inherent financial issue,” says Patrick Barwise, an emeritus professor at London Business School. “Channel 4 has repeatedly defied expectations, but that is just delaying the inevitable. It’s now beginning to face a crunch point.”

The evolving situation underscores a broader dilemma for British media: how to preserve a domestic voice and a diverse public service ecosystem in an progressively globalised and digitally dominated landscape.