ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall confirmed on Thursday 4 June that talks to sell ITV's broadcast and streaming arm to Sky are "very much actively engaged", speaking at the Enders Analysis TMT Leaders Live conference, where TMT stands for technology, media and telecoms1. ITV is the UK's largest commercial broadcaster; Sky is the Comcast-owned pay-TV and streaming group. The remark resolves the open question Lowdown flagged when Sky entered advanced talks in May.
McCall disclosed no new terms, citing listed-company obligations, so the £1.6bn plus roughly £200m earn-out structure stands as reported2. An earn-out is deferred consideration paid only if the acquired business hits agreed performance targets. The confirmation matters because it keeps live a deal that would hand ITV an AI production stack without a procurement cycle.
For ITV, accepting the deal answers the build-versus-buy question by deferring it entirely. ITV inherits Sky's AI production tooling, and through Sky its Comcast parent's, without running its own selection process. The logic Comcast cares about is ITVX's user base and ITV Studios' back catalogue as training-data volume, not UK linear viewing.
