UK government says it is minded to intervene in Sky-ITV deal

British culture ‌minister Lisa Nandy ​said on Thursday she was minded to intervene in Comcast's Sky deal to buy ‌the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain's ITV for £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion). Nandy said she had potential concerns about the deal's impact on the breadth ‌of news providers in Britain, as well as the extent ‌of Sky's control over the media.

She told the two companies she would also examine whether the deal could reduce the availability of high-quality programmes appealing to ⁠a ​wide variety ⁠of tastes and interests. That concern would extend to on-demand as well as broadcast content, ⁠and would require an amendment to the existing grounds for intervention to ​reflect new viewing habits, she said.

Sky agreed in July ⁠to buy ITV's broadcast business, home to programmes such as "Coronation Street", national news ⁠provided by ​ITN and popular regional news shows. Sky already owns rival news provider Sky News, as well as sports and entertainment ⁠channels.

ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said at the time she expected the ⁠deal to ⁠be subject to a lengthy review. The two companies have until October 20 to respond to Nandy's concerns.

($1 = ‌0.7550 ‌pounds)