ITV Bullish in First Results Since Confirming Sky Deal, Orders Share Buyback of $135M

McCall mentioned the Sky-ITV transaction is subject to regulatory approval, with the U.K.’s 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 “in due course,”.

They have not interacted with Nandy since announcing the deal, McCall also said. A combined Comcast-owned Sky and ITV would create a formidable British media group.

What Happened

The merged operation will sit alongside Comcast’s NBCUniversal assets, bringing together ITV’s mass-reach advertising business, public-service broadcasting obligations and sports rights with Sky’s subscription TV, streaming, broadband and mobile operations. This was driven by the men’s World Cup, which attracted strong advertising.

• Media & Entertainment (M&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 includes The Gentlemen, The Woods and SuburraMaxima for Netflix, Line of Duty season seven and Vigil season three for the BBC.

Key Details

Looking ahead, the company has “good visibility” over the full-year outlook and revenue, margin and profit will be weighted to H2 and particularly Q4, when a “really strong delivery schedule” comes into play.

• Notably, ITV Studios’ revenue in the U.K.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by The Hollywood Reporter as more details emerge