Irish commercial channel UTV Ireland will be included in the sale of TV assets to ITV.
In August, the Belfast Telegraph revealed the sale of Belfast-based UTV to ITV in a multi-million pound deal, but had made no mention UTV Ireland, launched by UTV Media plc in January 2015. It now looks as if UTV Ireland will join UTV in the acquisition. After the UTV acquisitions, which are expected to conclude this week, Scotland’s STV will be the only Channel 3 regional broadcaster remaining.
According to a new piece in the Belfast Telegraph, a UTV spokeswoman said: “I can confirm that our TV assets include both UTV and UTV Ireland – talks have always been about the sale of both TV channels.”
UTV Media will still retain its radio business, comprising the channels of Radio Ireland and Radio Great Britain.
