Virgin Media has announced it has agreed a deal to acquire UTV Ireland from ITV for €10m.

The agreement includes a comprehensive 10-year output deal for Ireland for ITV produced programming, of which soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale would be a key element.

The purchase price is expected to be funded through existing liquidity.

The proposed transaction follows the acquisition of rival broadcaster TV3 last December.

TV3 was bought by Virgin Media's parent group, Liberty Global, in July 2015 in a deal worth up to €87m.

On completion of the deal UTV Ireland will become part of Virgin Media.

Last November UTV Media sold its television assets, including UTV Ireland, to ITV for €135m.

UTV Media had initially predicted UTV Ireland would break even by the end of its first year, but six months into operation it forecast the operation would instead record a €15.6m loss.

At the time, the group blamed weaker-than-expected daytime and weekend audience figures for that poor performance.

UTV Ireland - which launched in January 2015 - is currently available on the Virgin Media, eir Vision, Vodafone, Sky and Saorview platforms

Virgin Media CEO Tony Hanway said the investment "demonstrates our commitment to provide great entertainment for Irish viewers and adds Ireland's newest TV channel to our existing portfolio which includes TV3 and 3e."

The acquisition will be subject to competition and regulatory approval, however, it is expected to be cleared in the coming months.

Commenting on the deal, Director of Broadcast Finance & Operations for ITV Christy Swords said: "ITV took over the business a few months ago and we've concluded that bringing TV3 and UTV Ireland together under common ownership offers the best prospect of delivering a strong and sustainable Irish commercial broadcaster, underpinned by a long-term programming agreement with ITV.

“We recognise that this has been an uncertain period for the staff of UTV and UTV Ireland and we have been determined to reach a speedy resolution.

"We believe that the decision we have made represents an important step forward for the future of the channel.”