With the loss of the digital terrestrial TV licence to the BBC and a settlement with the Football League near, Carlton and Granada are now free to focus on a merger.
Granada, valued at £3.4bn compared with Carlton's £1.5bn, as the larger of the two companies will take the lead and dominate the newly merged company.
Merger talks between the two broke down earlier this year as the two argued about ongoing support for their digital TV venture ITV Digital. With its collapse, that is no longer a stumbling block.
The merger would lead to a number of cost savings and could potentially boost shareholder value and so keep the City and institutional investors happy.
Earlier this year, Granada chief executive Charles Allen said that the "strategic logic of a single ITV is inescapable. It is what the shareholders want and I'm sure it will happen".
Carlton chairman Michael Green would be chairman of the new group and Allen CEO.
The government's broadcasting bill, published in May, will remove the final hurdles blocking the merger.
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