ITV says it is in preliminary discussions regarding a possible sale of its M&E business to Sky for an enterprise value of £1.6bn. Despite pre-budget uncertainty, UK house prices jumped by 0.6% last month according to new data from lender Halifax. Halifax reported that the value of the average UK home increasing by almost £1,650 last month to £299,862 – the highest on record. This also lifted the annual rate of hous inflation to 1.9%, from 1.3% in September. “Demand from buyers has held up well coming into autumn, despite a degree of uncertainty in the market, with the number of new mortgages being approved recently hitting its highest level so far this year. “There is no doubt that affordability remains a challenge for many. Average fixed mortgage rates are currently around 4% and likely to ease down further, but with property prices at record levels, moving home can feel like a stretch. A split of ITV’s operations is one of a number of options that the broadcaster’s management, led by chief executive Carolyn McCall, has looked at as part of efforts to boost the value of the company. McCall’s team believes ITV is undervalued on the stock market. Doubling down on UK broadcasting would mark a gutsy bet by Comcast, which has written down the value of Sky by billions of dollars since acquiring it for $39 billion in 2018. The US company agreed in June to sell its German business Sky Deutschland for an upfront price of €150 million ($173 million), a fraction of its valuation in previous years, showing how much the market for European broadcasters has deteriorated. Comcast’s deliberations are ongoing and may not lead to a transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Media analyst Ian Whittaker told the BBC that a combination of Sky and ITV would mean that had “70% plus” of the UK TV advertising market, which he said “in normal circumstances” would be rejected by regulators because of the dominance it would give them. But he added that with questions hanging over the future of TV, a takeover could be seen as almost a rescue deal. Continue reading...

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