The news that Sky is set to take over ITV in a £1.6 billion deal has got people talking about the possibility of other mergers and acquisitions in the world of British TV, as traditional broadcasters have to compete against the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+.
While Channel 4's new boss Priya Dogra has outright stated that she does not believe that any sort of merger or takeover is in the company's best interests, the idea of 4's content being carried on BBC iPlayer is on the table (via Deadline).
The BBC's director general Matt Brittin told the UK Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee that the two broadcasters are in talks, which could potentially mean that The Great British Bake Off could once again be available on the BBC after 4 famously nabbed it in 2016.
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"All of these mergers are driven by the need to have scale. Channel 4 looks very subscale," Brittin said.
"One opportunity for them would be, in partnership with the BBC, having content on iPlayer that continues to be ad-funded.
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"There are an array of commercial, audience, public service, and technical issues, but what we'll do is explore that as quickly as we are able, because I think that's something that's going to be important for public service media."
Previously exclusive content being shared across different companies' streaming services is nothing new, as places like Netflix and Disney+ have carried shows from the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV for years.
In fact, thanks to deal with the BBC-owned commercial network UKTV, Channel 4's streaming service currently has classic episodes of Casualty and EastEnders that have been rerun on U&Drama recently.
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You may have heard that Bake Off could be leaving Channel 4 as part of the Sky and ITV deal, but it's recently been confirmed that's not true.
Love Productions, the production company behind Bake Off, is being sold, but its production deal with Channel 4 remains in place regardless of who owns it.
"Channel 4's GBBO deal is with Love and as such is unaffected by the Sky ITV deal," a spokesperson told The Independent.
"The show's existing multi-year agreement with Love remains in place meaning Bake Off fans will be able to continue to enjoy the show on Channel 4 as usual."
The Great British Bake Off is expected to return to Channel 4 in the autumn.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
