Europe’s Broadcasters Want to Get Bigger. The Hard Part Is How

In little more than a year, Europe’s broadcasting sector has seen a burst of dealmaking that would have looked improbable a decade ago. Comcast-owned Sky has agreed to acquire ITV ’s broadcast and streaming operations in the U.K. in a deal valued at $2.1 billion . RTL in Germany is combining its market-leading free-to-air broadcaster with the country’s No. 1 pay-TV group Sky Deutschland, recently acquired from Comcast. The Berlusconi family’s MediaForEurope (MFE) last year took control of Germany’s number two commercial network ProSiebenSat.1, adding it to MFE’s growing European stable that already includes Mediaset, Italy’s top commercial TV group, and Telecinco, Spain’s number two commercial network. Related Stories Movies Ian Crafford, Film Editor on 'Hope and Glory' and 'Field of Dreams,' Dies at 82 Movies Ewan McGregor Would Like to Play Obi-Wan Kenobi Again -- Even If His 'Star Wars' Prequels Were "Dragged Through the Mud"

Regulators have so far prevented a similar tie-up in France — an attempt at a $4.1 billion merger between the top two commercial networks, TF1 and M6, was abandoned in 2022 — but the trend is clear. Europe’s broadcasters are trying to get bigger and fast.

The logic behind the wave of broadcast consolidation — and, to a degree, the parallel M&A boom in the European production sector, evidenced by the recent $8.5 billion mega-merger between Banijay ( Survivor , Peaky Blinders ) and All3Media ( The Traitors , Call the Midwife ) — is clear. Being big enough to compete against national rivals is no longer enough. European TV companies are now in a fight for eyeballs with Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, Disney, TikTok, Google and Meta, global platforms with global technology, global advertising infrastructure and balance sheets that dwarf even the largest European TV groups.