Culture sec 'minded to intervene' on Sky-ITV deal

Afternoon all,

The culture secretary told MPs that she is mulling over stepping in on Sky’s proposed £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s media and entertainment division. Lisa Nandy suggested that the deal might “affect availability of a wide range of high-quality and varied programming”. Now, it’s over to the two broadcasters to convince Labour that this bolsters competition in the media - rather than hampering it.

Meanwhile, the Big Four has scored more than £1.5m in public contracts this year, according to new research. That’s despite a promise from the government to slash spending on consultants.

We’ll be back in your inboxes at 8am tomorrow. In the meantime, have a great Thursday evening!

Matt

In a statement to MPs, Nandy 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.”

ITV, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and Sky have until 20 October to respond to reassure Nandy over competition concerns.

An investigation by market intelligence platform Tussell found the government has awarded KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC over £1.5bn in contracts so far in 2026, more than the entirety of 2025, which stood at £1.04bn.

The data showed it was the second most successful calendar year for the Big Four since Tussell began recording in 2012, beaten only by contracting during the height of the pandemic in 2020.

The tax raid threat will raise alarm bells for the City, with bank bosses already fearing Healey could launch an assault on their profits.

The policy would result in “less investment, fewer jobs and lower tax revenues for the whole country,” said the boss of the City Property Association, which represents more than 100 major property developers.

The UK–GCC Strategic Dialogue brings together policymakers, investors, and business leaders to advance trade, investment, and strategic partnerships.

The world’s most valuable company has pledged $50m a year in computing power over five years to support British research into autonomous AI agents, alongside plans to invest in five UK startups.

But Indranil Bandyopadhyay, principal analyst at Forrester, warned that heavy reliance on Nvidia’s technology could shape how researchers assess the safety of increasingly powerful AI systems.

“Researchers working mainly on one vendor’s tooling may produce benchmarks that reflect that stack”, he told City AM.

The German grocery chain has put in an offer to Gordon Brothers, which owns the retailer, in which it would initially buy one store if the company’s sale process fails and it is broken up, City AM understands. 

Lidl’s bid would then allow it “cherry pick” a further small number of Poundland stores if the company ended up being split up between a number of individual buyers, according to sources close to the sale process.

Standing in the teeny tiny, Netflix-Christmas-film-coded courtyard outside Cloth Cornhill, I feel sad. This opening drills the final nail in the coffin of the former Simpsons Tavern, the capital’s oldest chophouse, which was on this site since 1757.

At their party conference in Birmingham, the Tories tried their best to bring back the good times. Reporters who have been following the Conservatives for years privately joked that the labyrinth conference centre had about a third of the amount of people as when the party was in government.

The country’s Public Investment Fund will inform Fifa of its intention to scrap construction of the quintet of new venues, including ambitious projects in Qiddya and Neom, Semafor reported.

The other stadium builds set to be axed are in King Abdullah Economic City, Roshn and New Murabba, it added. Instead of eight new venues for 2034, there will now be three.

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