Popular ITV shows including Coronation Street, Emmerdale, I'm a Celebrity and Love Island will remain free to watch until at least 2034 after Sky agreed a £1.6bn takeover of the broadcaster's media and entertainment divisions. Sky chief executive Dana Strong told the BBC the programmes would stay free-to-air until ITV's public service licence obligations expire in 2034, one of the biggest takeovers in British media history.
The deal, which includes ITV's broadcast channels and its ITVX streaming service, is designed to create a stronger rival to global streaming giants. ITV's studio arm, which produces shows such as Love Island and I'm a Celebrity, is not part of the sale, nor is Scottish broadcaster STV.
“ITV hits guaranteed free until 2034 after Sky's £1.6bn takeover, but future beyond that uncertain.”
Strong said the broadcaster's intention was to move some Sky sports coverage onto ITV for free. "If viewers still love Coronation Street in 10 years' time, and I imagine they will, then we'll be negotiating with ITV Studios to make sure that ITV remains the home of Coronation Street, and we would love for it to remain free to air," she told the BBC. However, she added: "It's really hard to predict 10 years away, though, so we've got a five-year deal for all of the content that consumers love, and we'll start renegotiating those deals closer to the time."
Strong also said Sky was "happy to support" both ITV News and Sky News but called the future commitment "a little hard to predict". The takeover gives Sky access to millions more viewers and increased prominence on a free-to-air platform.
ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said the deal would help both broadcasters compete with streaming giants. "I think Sky and ITV need this deal because the entire market has changed and the change has been exponential," she told the BBC. "So when you look at viewers, there are now 800,000 streaming hours in this market. Five years ago, that was 240,000. That doesn't even include YouTube." In a statement, Sky said the UK media market was undergoing "a profound and rapid transformation, and as competition for audiences intensifies, scale matters more than ever in order to compete with global streaming giants and YouTube in the UK".
The question of what happens to beloved shows after 2034 remains unanswered — Strong herself admitted that predicting a decade ahead is "really hard".