Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy wrote to Sky on 15 October that she is "minded to" issue a Public interest intervention notice (PIIN) on its purchase of ITV's Media and Entertainment business1. It is the first government move since the two agreed terms and signed. A PIIN lets ministers judge a merger on media plurality (the spread of news ownership and viewpoints) as well as competition. It brings Ofcom in alongside the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Her letter names four grounds: free expression in news, plurality of news views, plurality of media owners, and the range of high-quality broadcasting and on-demand programmes. The fourth is not among the considerations listed in section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002, so adding it needs an Order approved by Parliament.
Comcast's 2018 undertakings on Sky News (binding promises to keep it funded and independent) expire in December 2028 and "do not extend to ITV News or ITN". On completion, the deal would give Sky a 20% stake in ITN, which supplies news to ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Nandy accepts that stake "would not automatically give Sky material influence" but wants Ofcom and the CMA to examine it. Comcast said in July it would separate the Media division holding Sky within roughly a year, so a standalone Sky would inherit undertakings with an end date already set.
The parties describe the deal as including "modernising how ITV's regional journalism is produced". ITV News has already used a licensed AI likeness in a documentary, though the letter itself never mentions AI. The CMA says it has what it needs to begin pre-notification but has not opened a formal phase 1 investigation (a first review of 40 working days)2.
