Government could ‘intervene’ in Sky’s £1.6bn deal to buy ITV – what we know

• Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has announced she is minded to intervene in Sky ’s proposed £1.6 billion takeover of ITV ’s media and entertainment division.
• The merger, which was agreed in July, aims to combine ITV’s terrestrial channels and streaming service ITVX with Sky to better rival global streaming giants.
• Ms Nandy raised concerns regarding the potential impact of the deal on the free expression of opinion, plurality of views in news media, and the concentration of control within the sector.
• The culture secretary is also considering intervention to ensure UK audiences retain access to a wide range of high-quality and varied programming on on-demand platforms.
• To intervene on the grounds of on-demand content availability, Ms Nandy indicated that the government would need to introduce legislation amending section 58 of the Enterprise Act.

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