ITV agrees to sell media and entertainment divisions to Sky
ITV and Sky now hope to rival global streaming platforms like Netflix.
ITV is set to sell its media and entertainment divisions to Sky for £1.6 billion.
Sky chief executive Dana Strong has called the move "a defining moment for British media" as they seek to create a rival to global streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon.
Sky said in a statement: "The UK media market is undergoing a profound and rapid transformation, and as competition for audiences intensifies, scale matters more than ever in order to compete with global streaming giants and YouTube in the UK."
The deal represents one of the biggest takeovers in British media history, but there are no plans to make major changes to popular TV shows, such as Coronation Street, This Morning, and Love Island, in the immediate future.
Sky explained: "Viewers will continue to enjoy the shows they know and love, such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Love Island, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, This Morning, Loose Women, Lorraine and News at Ten – alongside major live sporting events."
Once the deal is finalised, ITV Studios will become a standalone business, while Sky - which is owned by the American broadcasting giant Comcast - has committed to spending £2.1 billion on content from ITV Studios over five years.
The companies began takeover talks in November last year, shortly after a report noted that YouTube had become the UK's second most-watched media service, behind the BBC.
Ofcom's annual report revealed that as many as one in five young people go to the video-sharing platform first when they turn on their smart TVs.
Ed Leighton, Ofcom's interim group director for strategy and research, observed at the time that scheduled TV is "increasingly alien" to younger viewers. Instead, he noted that YouTube is now "the first port of call for many" when they pick up their TV remote.
He added: "But we're also seeing signs that older adults are turning to the platform as part of their daily media diet too."
