Sky has dropped Goldman Sachs as its corporate broker after the private equity arm of the financial services giant played a key role in Greg Dyke's failed bid for ITV.

The Financial Times reports that Sky has replaced Goldman with Merill Lynch, with Deutsche Bank remaining the broadcaster's second corporate broker.

Although Goldman will continue to advise Sky, the move is seen as signalling an end to a 12 year-long relationship between the two parties that began when Sky floated on the stock market back in 1994.

In addition to its private equity arm participating in the March bid for ITV, Goldman Sachs was a key advisor to NTL and Telewest in the run-up to the merger of the two cable operators, and continued to work with Sky's rival during the process of bidding for Virgin Mobile.