Charlotte Hawkins Announces Historic ITV Sale News on Good Morning Britain

Charlotte Hawkins Delivers Major Broadcasting News

Good Morning Britain’s Charlotte Hawkins halted the show to make the huge announcement ITV is for sale. The experienced television presenter, who has been a fixture on the ITV breakfast programme since 2014, made the significant announcement on 2 January 2026, highlighting one of the most important developments in British broadcasting in recent years.

Understanding the ITV Sale Discussions

ITV has confirmed that it is in advanced discussions to sell its Media & Entertainment business to Sky, a pay-TV company owned by Comcast, with the potential deal valuing the business at £1.6 billion (around $2.1 billion), including debt. The public service broadcaster confirmed it is in discussions with Sky’s US owner Comcast over a sale of its media and entertainment division, which includes its traditional broadcast channels and streaming service ITVX.

Any deal would not include ITV Studios, the group’s booming production division that makes programmes including Love Island and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. This means the broadcaster could transform into a pure production company focused on content creation rather than broadcasting operations.

The Significance for British Television

If agreed, the deal would be among the biggest UK media transactions since Comcast’s £30bn takeover of Sky in 2018 — and a landmark moment in the evolution of British television. Media analysts said any takeover of ITV’s broadcasting assets by Sky would face intense scrutiny from both Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), while a deal could strengthen Britain’s domestic media ecosystem against US streaming giants such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

What This Means for Viewers

Charlotte Hawkins, who serves as newsreader and occasional presenter on Good Morning Britain, represents the familiar faces that viewers have come to trust for their daily news. Charlotte Mary Hawkins is a British television and radio presenter, newsreader and journalist who in 2014, left Sky to co-present the ITV Breakfast programme Good Morning Britain and also presents a Sunday evening programme on Classic FM. The announcement she delivered marks a potential turning point for the network that has been her professional home for over a decade, as ITV navigates the challenging landscape of modern broadcasting amid increasing competition from streaming platforms.