DNM

Richard Desmond appoints Barclays to explore sale of Channel 5

Richard Desmond has decided that he wants to sell Channel 5. During this time he turned the well-known Big Brother show into a profit making show as, before he had taken over the show was in decline. In order for him to sell the channel he has hired Barclays to do so for him. However the sale is at a very early stage in the project. The two obvious candidates which would take over the channel and bid for ti would be ITV and SkyB. ITV are already by far the biggest advertiser funded broadcaster. SKyB are also likely potential buyers of the channel however, Rupert Murdoch has ruled out any bid for the channel. Channel 5 is also targeted by foreign buyers such as, NBC Universal or Time Warner. However the last owners RTL were based in Germany and found it hard to make a profit from channel 5. Desmond has stated that he is talking to rivals about the sales of channel 5. The most likely buyers being ITV.

·         Channel 5 is the smallest terrestrial broadcaster.

·         Channel 5 bought Northern and Shell Media Empire in 2010, which they bought from RTL for £103.5m. This is also included now in the sale with channel 5.

·         Securing the rights of Big brother has cut the loss of Channel 5 from the past six months from £48m to £20.6m.

·         Channel 5 could be worth around £400 million.

·         Espirito Santo investment bank valued channel 5 to be worth £500m.

·         Times reported Desmond is looking for around £700 million for the channel.