GMB: Charlotte Hawkins reveals breaking news that ITV is for sale

Good Morning Britain’s Charlotte Hawkins halted the show to make the huge announcement ITV is for sale. Looking at the camera she said: “It’s been confirmed that ITV is in preliminary talks for Sky’s owner Comcast to buy ITV’s broadcasting business. It has been valued at 1.6billion pounds.”

The news comes as the broadcaster has struggled with losses, announcing cuts across the board earlier this year. The daytime schedule was already due to undergo a huge shake up with both Lorraine and Loose Women losing episodes. However any sale could lead to further cuts and puts the future of all the shows up in the air. This means Good Morning Britain could find itself under fire should the new owners wish to go ion a different direction. At present the flagship morning show is due to be extended by 30 minutes daily in the new year as Lorraine Kelly’s eponymous show is set to lose half an hour.

Close up of Charlotte Hawkins

Charlotte Hawkins halted Good Morning Britain for breaking news (Image: ITV)

Production of Good Monring Britain is also due to shift away from ITV Studios to ITN under a renewed five-year agreement.

In February this year ITV bosses announced cuts to Emmerdale and Coronation Street which will see both soaps lose episodes as they run back to back nightly in half hour episodes for soap “power hour”.

Following on from that announcement in May it was confirmed Lorraine will lose its long-standing hour long slot and will now air from 9.30am to 10am. This slashes it’s airtime in half, and episodes are also being cut as it was a announced it would only be broadcast 30 weeks of the year.

This means stand-in presenters such as Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh will no longer be needed during Kelly’s absences, as the show won’t broadcast during those weeks.

ITV logo

ITV is in sale talks with Sky’s owner Comcast (Image: PA)

During the 22 weeks Lorraine is off-air, Good Morning Britain is set to extend its run until 10am, adding an extra hour to its schedule.

While This Morning is still set to be broadcast from 10.30am to 12.30pm, Loose Women is being scaled back. The lunchtime panel show will now air seasonally for just 30 weeks a year.

Comcast already own huge broadcasting companies alongside Sky. They own NBCUniversal which includes the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group with companies such as animation giants Dreamworks under it’s umbrella.

They also own the NBC news channels which are currently undergoing huge cuts with of staff being