ITV will not cut its commissioning spend or radically switch its programming strategy following Sky’s £1.6bn acquisition of the broadcaster, media and entertainment managing director Kevin Lygo has reassured producers.
Speaking the Edinburgh TV Festival, Lygo said it would be “business as usual” for ITV suppliers in terms of commissioning, adding: “We’ll continue to spend money.”
Lygo told delegates: “ITV will not in any way second guess what might be good [to commission] if we merge with Sky … [it] wouldn’t want us to do anything drastically different because what they’ve agreed to buy is us as is.
“Everybody gets a bit worried about uncertainty. But for the people in this room, we will continue to run our business completely separate from Sky until the transaction happens, which on best estimates is about a year away at best.”
Regarding the “logical” deal”, Lygo said ITV viewers should also “not notice anything radically different”.
He added: “For the viewer, what matters to ITV will continue. Properly funded, UK storytelling with lots of drama, entertainment, live and news and regional news. All of that will continue.”
Meanwhile, Lygo brushed off the competitive threats posed by Netflix and YouTube. Acknowledging that Netflix’s UK revenues broke the £2bn barrier last year – higher than those of all UK commercial PSBs, including ITV – he said his company would continue to be driven by its public service values.
“We’ll carry on doing our thing and if we can get together in the right way with Sky, we’ll be in a much more secure, powerful organisation,” he added.
YouTube’s £3m commitment to growing the UK’s creator economy and screen industries made him “chortle”, given ITV’s estimated £1.2bn content spend this year.
Lygo said ITV remained “committed” to Big Brother, which returns next year, but conceded: “It’s brutal out there.”
He said: “As long as it delivers, and it is delivering, we will continue… It is the most extraordinary show of the last 20 years. It has influenced so much. It was the first big reality show that showed people in all their vulnerability and it’s great it is still on British TV, and it will continue for as long as it can.”
