Lisa Nandy MP, the UK’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), has issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) concerning Sky UK Ltd’s proposed acquisition of ITV Media & Entertainment Holdings Ltd. The notice will allow the government to examine the public interest implications of the transaction, as she has claimed out in a written ministerial statement.

The PIIN requires the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to report on jurisdictional and competition matters, while Ofcom must assess the media public interest considerations set out in section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002. These include:

• The need for free expression of opinion in news media.
• The need, so far as is reasonable and practicable, for a sufficient plurality of views in news media in each market for news media in the UK or any part of it.
• The need for a sufficient plurality of persons with control of media enterprises serving each different audience in the UK, or in any particular area or locality.

In addition, under section 42 of the Act, Nandy has decided to intervene on the basis of an additional public interest consideration that is not currently specified in the legislation.

She has informed the parties that this ground concerns: “The need for the availability throughout the United Kingdom of a wide range of (i) broadcasting; and (ii) on-demand programmes; which (in each case, taken as a whole), is of high quality and calculated to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests”.

Both the CMA and Ofcom must submit their reports by 27 January 2027. Once they have been received, the Secretary of DCMS’ State will decide whether to refer the transaction to the CMA for a more detailed investigation under section 45 of the Act. The Department will update Parliament after the reports have been received and considered.

The process dates back to 15 October 2026, when Nandy’s department wrote to Sky UK Limited and ITV plc to inform them that she was “minded to intervene” in the proposed transaction.

In her statement, Nandy also confirmed that she did not consider the circumstances to warrant a Foreign State Intervention Notice at this stage. She added: “If new or additional information comes to light which suggests that a foreign state newspaper merger situation may be created as a result of the arrangements currently in progress being carried into effect, then I will be obliged to refer the merger to the Competition and Markets Authority under section 70A of the Act”.