{"id":23377,"date":"2026-07-31T17:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23377"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:54:08","slug":"itv-bullish-in-first-results-since-confirming-sky-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23377","title":{"rendered":"ITV Bullish in First Results Since Confirming Sky Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/itv\/\" id=\"auto-tag_itv_1\" data-tag=\"itv\">ITV<\/a> has reported revenue growth of 2 percent in the first half of the year and revealed a \u00a3100 million ($135m) sharehold buyback in what CEO Carolyn McCall has described as a show of \u201ccommitment to attractive shareholder returns\u201d in the wake of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/sky-2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_sky-2_1\" data-tag=\"sky-2\">Sky<\/a>\u2018s \u00a31.6 billion ($2.13b) acquisition of the broadcaster\u2019s network and streaming businesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn the first results since the industry-rattling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/sky-itv-deal-merger-comcast-us-uk-broadcasting-studios-1236638546\/\">mega-deal was announced<\/a>, ITV said the buyback and interim dividend of 1.7p totaling around \u00a360 million ($80m) represents an \u201cearly return of part of the previously announced \u00a3950 million net cash return expected on completion of the sale.\u201d McCall said on a call with reporters early Friday: \u201cThe announcement of the sale [\u2026] was a defining moment to ITV.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cAnd crucially,\u201d she added, \u201cit will also unlock the value of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/itv-studios\/\" id=\"auto-tag_itv-studios_1\" data-tag=\"itv-studios\">ITV Studios<\/a>.\u201d (The company\u2019s production arm is not part of the deal, though the report shows Sky will commit to buying \u00a32.1 billion in ITV Studios content between 2028 and 2032.) After news of the deal, the focus for ITV will likely be on its content and big-hitters at ITV Studios (<em>Love Island<\/em>, <em>Rivals <\/em>at Disney+), making it a potential takeover target.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tMcCall mentioned the Sky-ITV transaction is subject to regulatory approval, with the U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority having launched its review. Given this is a media merger, ITV is expecting Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to issue a Public Interest Intervention notice \u201cin due course,\u201d but they still estimate the merger will complete around a year from now. They have not interacted with Nandy since announcing the deal, McCall also said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tA combined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/comcast\/\" id=\"auto-tag_comcast_1\" data-tag=\"comcast\">Comcast<\/a>-owned Sky and ITV would create a formidable British media group. Under the proposed structure, Sky would acquire ITV\u2019s networks and streaming businesses (Media &amp; Entertainment) \u2014 including the ITV channel portfolio and ITVX \u2014 while\u00a0ITV Studios, the production outfit behind franchises such as\u00a0<em>Love Island<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Britain\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>\u00a0and Netflix hit\u00a0<em>Fool Me Once,<\/em>\u00a0is to be spun off as a standalone listed company, reconfirmed by McCall on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe merged operation will sit alongside Comcast\u2019s NBCUniversal assets, bringing together ITV\u2019s mass-reach advertising business, public-service broadcasting obligations and sports rights with Sky\u2019s subscription TV, streaming, broadband and mobile operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tMedia &amp; Entertainment (M&amp;E) delivered a run-of-the-mill first-half performance, with total revenue up 2 percent. Total advertising revenue increased by 3 percent, with Q2 up 8 percent year-on-year. This was driven by the men\u2019s World Cup, which attracted strong advertising and sponsorship demand from both U.K. and global brands across advertising categories, and \u201csupercharged engagement on [streaming platform] ITVX,\u201d according to the report, which delivered record H1 viewing, up 27 percent, with digital advertising revenue up 13 percent year-on-year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tNotably, ITV Studios\u2019 revenue in the U.K. was up 17 percent this half-year, but down in the U.S. by 17 percent and internationally by 24 percent, suggesting the company could be hitting a wall when it comes to that much-needed U.S. expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tLooking ahead, the company has \u201cgood visibility\u201d over the full-year outlook and revenue, margin and profit will be weighted to H2 and particularly Q4, when a \u201creally strong delivery schedule\u201d comes into play. This includes <em>The Gentlemen<\/em>, <em>The Woods <\/em>and <em>SuburraMaxima <\/em>for Netflix, <em>Line of Duty <\/em>season seven and <em>Vigil <\/em>season three for the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ITV has reported revenue growth of 2 percent in the first half of the year and revealed a \u00a3100 million ($135m) sharehold buyback in what CEO Carolyn McCall has described as a show of \u201ccommitment to attractive shareholder returns\u201d in the wake of Sky\u2018s \u00a31.6 billion ($2.13b) acquisition of the broadcaster\u2019s network and streaming businesses&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Where-to-Watch-Love-Island-U.K.-Season-13-in-the-U.S.-MAIN.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}