UK: free-to-air television network ITV not interested in acquiring BT Sport (pay-TV)

"We have a good relationship with BT and BT Sport in particular, and we do constantly talk to them about how we might collaborate and cooperate. Those discussions are ongoing. We've been very focused on our balance sheet, we're really very robust. We still see uncertainty ahead (amid the pandemic), it's not the kind of acquisition we would do," said Carolyn McCall, chief executive of the privately-held British free-TV group ITV, regarding the British pay-TV package BT Sport, on 28/07/2021.

The British telecommunications operator BT had confirmed that it was studying the possibility of selling all or part of its subsidiary BT Sport on 29/04/2021. ITV had been cited by the British media as one of the potential candidates along with the OTT platform DAZN, the US e-commerce group Amazon, the media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company and private equity firms.

ITV may however be interested in acquiring the British public broadcaster Channel 4: "The UK government will have spoken to a large number of people in the industry about their views on Channel 4, and they will…