ITV hits such as I'm a Celebrity to stay free to watch after Sky takeover - Published Popular ITV shows such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, I'm a Celebrity and Love Island will remain free to watch until at least 2034 following its sale to Sky. The £1.6bn deal to buy ITV's media and entertainment divisions is one of the biggest takeovers in British media history. The companies say it will create a strong rival to global streaming giants.

Sky chief executive Dana Strong told the BBC that ITV's programmes would remain free-to-air at least until its public service licence obligations expire in 2034. Some Sky sports coverage would be made available to watch for free on ITV, Strong added. The sale includes ITV's broadcast channels and its ITVX streaming service.

However, ITV's studio arm, which makes programmes such as Love Island and I'm a Celebrity, is not included in the deal. The deal also does not include Scottish broadcaster STV which provides the Channel 3 service in most of Scotland. The takeover means Sky will get access to millions more viewers, as well as scale and prominence on a free-to-air platform.

Strong told the BBC: "If viewers still love Coronation Street in 10 years' time, and I imagine they will, then we'll be negotiating with ITV Studios to make sure that ITV remains the home of Coronation Street, and we would love for it to remain free to air." She added: "It's really hard to predict 10 years away, though, so we've got a five-year deal for all of the content that consumers love, and we'll start renegotiating those deals closer to the time," she added. She said the broadcaster's intention was "to take some of the sport that is currently on Sky and put it onto ITV so that we can build audiences and fandom for across the world of sport that we cover." Strong also said Sky was "happy to support" both ITV News and Sky News but said that "it's a little hard to predict the future" as to how long that commitment would last. - What Sky buying ITV could mean for your favourite shows - Published22 hours ago In a statement announcing the deal, Sky said the UK media market was 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 chief executive of ITV, Dame Carolyn McCall, also said the deal would help both broadcasters take on the streaming giants. "I think Sky and ITV need this deal because the entire market has changed and the change has been exponential, Dame Carolyn told the BBC. "So when you look at viewers, there are now 800,000 streaming hours in this market.

Five years ago, that was 240,000. That doesn't even include YouTube." She added that competition for viewers and advertisers had become "ferocious", and it had become more difficult to invest in new shows. "In order to keep investing in great British content, in order to preserve and protect what we are so proud of as a commercial public sector broadcaster, we believe this is absolutely the right deal for ITV," she said.

Former ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, who owns shares in ITV, said the deal was "essential" for the survival of the broadcasters.