For many, Sky is best known for its sports coverage (the majority of televised Premier League games are still shown on Sky Sports, for example, and it now has the rights to broadcast Formula 1 in the UK until 2034).
Part of the appeal of the takeover from its perspective is that, as a public service broadcaster, ITV can bid for the ‘listed’ crown jewel tournaments that have to be shown live on a free-to-air channel such as the Olympic Games, Grand National and British Grand Prix.
It’s why Wimbledon is on the BBC and why the BBC and ITV show the World Cup – which is bringing in millions of eyeballs (and – for ITV – millions in advertising revenue).
Former ITV Chairman Peter Bazalgette told me “sport is a massive driver of live viewing and advertising revenue”.
“Putting together the sports powerhouse of Sky’s football Premier League deals with the sport that is on ITV – the World Cup, the Rugby Six Nations – is probably one of the most attractive things for Comcast.”
For audiences it could also mean in future you’ll see Sky using ITV’s platforms as a shop window for programmes that are usually behind its paywall – rights-depending, perhaps a Premier League match shown free on ITV as a way to entice new subscribers to Sky platforms.
It isn’t just some of Sky’s sport offer that could turn up on ITV. You might find the first series of its Eddie Redmayne drama The Day of the Jackal there, ahead of the premiere of series two on its subscription channel. Or its comedy show Saturday Night Live UK, which could reach millions more if it was platformed on the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster.
Coronation Street may no longer get the audiences it once did. But it is still watched by four to five million people. ITV’s top shows are still some of the best performers in the UK. Sky will be buying access to those audiences.
A Sky show like The Dyers’ Caravan Park which sees father-daughter duo Danny and Dani Dyer trying to revive the British holiday industry could potentially reach a much wider audience on ITV after this deal.