The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has suggested ITV could be sold to US media giant Comcast by the summer.
In November, the UK broadcaster confirmed it was in discussions with Comcast, which already owns Sky, about a possible sale of its M&E business for an enterprise value of £1.6 billion.
It’s believed Comcast is keen to create a potential UK-focused streaming giant to take on the global tech companies.
Now, in a response to Ofcom’s consultation on STV’s request to change its regional programming commitments, the NUJ has stated it “believes that the ITV/Comcast talks are at a much more advanced stage than has been made public”.
The response speculates that a potential deal could happen as soon as Q2 2026.
While STV remains an entirely separate company to ITV, Channel 3 broadcasters are still expected to work together as a network. The NUJ argues that, should the sale go ahead, Ofcom would be in a “difficult situation were it to reduce public service broadcasting obligations to alleviate financial pressures on STV, only to find it had added to the profits of the new owner: an already profitable US-owned $32 billion media giant who could well afford the current model of news delivery.”
