Netflix

Sky to Buy ITV's Media Division for £1.6bn

Sky has agreed to acquire ITV's Media & Entertainment division in a deal valued at £1.6 billion (reported as more than €1.8 billion). The purchase includes the streaming service ITVX and ITV's free‑to‑air channels but excludes ITV's production arm; newsrooms are to remain editorially independent. Sky has also committed to a five‑year supply agreement worth £2.1 billion. The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Sky says the move aims to create a leading British streaming challenger to global platforms such as Netflix while maintaining ITV’s public‑service obligations and free availability for the channels and ITVX.

Paramount AdTech Reorg; Meta Names CMO and CDO

AdExchanger's roundup reports two industry moves: Paramount (now part of Paramount Skydance) is consolidating its ad tech and product teams under newly hired EVP Hugh Williams as part of CEO David Ellison’s effort to modernize the company’s ad tech; the reorg creates five divisions (product management, engineering, advertising solutions, client relations, and data). Separately, Meta promoted longtime CMO Alex Schultz to the company’s first chief data officer and named Denise Moreno as chief marketing officer; both executives signaled plans to use AI to evolve data-driven marketing but gave no concrete plans. The piece also notes brands and FIFA are relying on social creators for World Cup activations while broadcast production has largely kept influencer campaigns separate from live TV broadcasts.

RTL and ProSieben Win Prime-Time in World Cup Pause

MEEDIA's 'Video Daily' reports German TV ratings and streaming chart movements during a weekend affected by World Cup broadcasts. On Sunday without free-to-air World Cup matches, Das Erste's 'Polizeiruf 110' reached 4.40 million viewers (21.0%) and the 20:00 'Tagesschau' led the day with 5.42 million (26.2%). Public broadcasters ZDF and Das Erste posted strong weekend numbers while private channels RTL and ProSieben competed narrowly in the 14–49 demo (RTL 0.40m vs ProSieben 0.36m). MagentaTV held exclusive World Cup matches but no audience figures were available. Streaming charts shifted: Netflix added 'Fast & Furious 9' and '22 Bahnen' to its German film Top 10; Prime Video premiered 'Project Hail Mary' for Prime customers and hit #1; Disney+ and YouTube also recorded new entries and multi-million-view match highlights respectively.