Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced she may intervene following the £1.6 billion deal for Sky to take over ITV’s media and entertainment arm and could bring in new streaming legislation.
Ms Nandy said her possible move to step in would be made on concerns over the impact of the deal on free expression of opinion in news media, plurality of views in news media and the need for a sufficient number of people with control in the sector.
But she also said she was considering intervention on the basis of a new public interest consideration to maintain a wide range of broadcasting to on-demand programmes to appeal to a wide variety of viewers.
This would need legislation to be brought forward, she added.
She said: “Having considered the anticipated merger, I am of the view that there are reasonable grounds to believe that it might affect availability of a wide range of high-quality and varied programming on the on-demand platforms that are now widely used by UK audiences.
“Consequently, if I decide to intervene on the basis of this new public interest consideration, I will bring forward legislation which amends section 58 of the Act to extend the application of the public interest consideration relating to the availability of a wide range of broadcasting to on-demand programmes.”
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