The prospect of Comcast taking over ITV has prompted concerns about the impact on British public service broadcasting, a fact that Channel 4’s new chief executive, moving from a senior post at Sky, will be all too well aware.Sky’s advertising chief, Priya Dogra, will now be expected to lead the charge to block her former employer’s takeover plan to protect Channel 4.The proposed combination of Sky and ITV’s broadcasting operation would leave Channel 4 a relative commercial minnow when it comes to TV and digital ad sales, reigniting talk of the need to revisit some form of tie-up with the BBC for long-term survival.However, it is the potential ramifications on the future of news provision that are causing the most immediate alarm for many in the TV industry.The surprise news last month that Comcast, which owns assets including Universal Studios and bought Rupert Murdoch’s Sky for £30bn in 2018, makes commercial sense.

Traditional broadcasters are facing a long-term existential threat as audiences and revenues continue to rapidly migrate to global digital players such as Meta, Google, Amazon and Netflix.However, the potential £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s broadcasting arm and streaming service, which would end 70 years of independence, is laden with regulatory, political and competition concerns.At a stroke Comcast would control Sky News and ITV News (including its sprawling regional news operation) and become the largest shareholder in ITN, which produces news for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.While Comcast’s 40% of ITN would not be a controlling stake – the owner of the Daily Mail, Thomson Reuters and Informa each hold 20% – it would still be heavily involved in the news output of most of the main broadcasters.

“If a deal materialises the fate of ITN is an interesting one that will focus minds politically,” says one senior TV executive.“Effectively they will be involved in the news output of all the biggest non-BBC channels other than GB News”.Comcast guaranteed to keep funding Sky News for a decade, increasing its funding annually in line with inflation, as part of its takeover of Sky in 2018.As that commitment draws closer to expiring, concerns have been raised about whether the US company will continue to fully fund Sky News, which has an annual budget of £100m but is thought to make losses of as much as £80m.Dana Strong, the chief executive of Sky, recently told staff that the broadcaster would continue to back the news operation regardless of any ongoing support by Comcast, which has cut jobs at NBC News in the US.

It is understood that if any deal to buy ITV is tabled it would include guarantees not to seek permission from the media regulator Ofcom to vary any of the conditions of its public service broadcast licence, which includes commitments to national and regional news.Last year, ITV accepted the terms of a new licence which will remain in place until 2034.In May, it also agreed a new five-year news output deal with ITN, which observers point out effectively operates as a guarantee that the status quo will be maintained in the event of a takeover.“There are definitely questions about plurality,” says Stewart Puvis, a former ITN chief executive.“Theoretically Comcast could, say, merge Sky and ITV News and use its position as a 40% shareholder in ITN to assert control and offer Channel 4 and Channel 5 continued news supply but on more expensive terms.

I would hope Comcast realise ways of solving these problems [if the ITV deal happens].“They did a deal protecting Sky News to get control of Sky, so they have been round this course before, they understand the sensitivities.The main priority is to keep an eye on their intentions.”British TV executives have previously warned of the risk posed to the UK’s system of public service broadcasers (PSBs) by large parts of the British television industry being snapped up by US corporations.In July, Ofcom published a report warning that public service television, such as news provision and prestige UK-focused content such as ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, risks becoming an “endangered species” as viewers migrate to US online platforms and streamers.

The watchdog also published data showing that YouTube had overtaken ITV to become the UK’s second most-watched media service, behind only the BBC, with it and Netflix now the two most popular first TV destinations among four- to 15-year-olds.There are those that believe that a Sky takeover of ITV, against a backdrop of the rise of the viewer shift to mostly US digital companies, heralds the need for closer collaboration between the UK’s biggest broadcasters.“The UK wants and needs its own part of mass media which isn’t US controlled,” says a second broadcasting executive.“It’s a national strategic imperative.I think the government need to work out how the boards of the PSBs have a new part to their remits that obligates them to collaborate.

“In terms of an ITV takeover it is less of an issue given Sky’s history in the UK, on balance I think it would help the PSBs as it strengthens ITV.It’s more to do with how the rest of the PSB system would need to readjust.”Given that advertisers follow eyeballs, a combination of Sky and ITV could create a British TV and streaming powerhouse, with the two companies’ sales houses controlling 73% of the total ad spend on traditional TV and broadcasters’ streaming services combined.Any deal will trigger an investigation by the UK competition watchdog, which historically would not have allowed the combination, as James Murdoch found out after making an audacious move to become the biggest shareholder in ITV in 2006.However, Sky is hoping that the regulator will widen the scope of its definition of the ad market to include the impact of giants such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

The government has also been pushing regulators to be more “pro-business”, with former Amazon UK chief Doug Gurr installed at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).For clearance to be given Sky is likely to, at the least, look to shed its third-party ad sales deals.It handles the contracts for media owners including Channel 5 and Warner Bros Discovery – now facing its own takeover battle between rival bids from Netflix and Paramount Skydance – to reduce its dominance.“I think it will get cleared,” says Alex DeGroote, a media analyst.“Comcast will do everything it can to say it will maintain the PSB status quo and obligations, to give the impression it will be a good owner.

But you don’t buy to ultimately keep everything the same.“ITV plus Sky will give them 70% of the [traditional] TV ad market, close to a monopoly.The thrust of the debate will be the CMA being encouraged not to put insurmountable obstacles in place.”Channel 4 has seen off multiple attempts at privatisation by Conservative governments that argued it would not be able to compete against digital companies such as Netflix and YouTube without outside investment.Now, given the weakened state of the BBC and the commercial threat to Channel 4, which relies on advertising for the vast majority of its income, there are those that believe sporadic talk over the past 15 years on the need for closer collaboration between the two is likely to become a necessity.

“We may at some point end up in that situation because of the deep cumulative cuts since 2010 in the BBC’s real-terms funding and because Channel 4, too, has a structural funding problem, which is not its fault,” says Patrick Barwise, emeritus professor of management and marketing at London Business School.“Channel 4 has repeatedly beaten the predictions, but that is just postponing the problem.It’s now beginning to run out of road.”