Sharman will join ITV next month, reports The Guardian newspaper.
During his first spell at Sky Sports, as deputy managing director from 1994 to 1998, he helped negotiate many of the rights deals that saw the satellite broadcaster take a stranglehold on sports coverage.
The changeover should suit ITV, coming at a time when most of the network's major sports rights are tied up on long-term contracts.
ITV has lost its Premier League highlights deal to the BBC, leaving live Champions League matches as the centrepiece of its soccer coverage. The rights are shared with Sky in a £84million-a-year deal that runs to the end of next season.
Formula One rights are secured until the end of the decade and ITV also has the Rugby World Cup in 2007.
