Rupert Murdoch emerges as front runner in Channel 5 race
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has been named as a possible front runner to buy terrestrial television broadcaster Channel 5 after BSkyB tabled a joint offer with Discovery Communication for the network.
Reports in the Guardian speculate that Discovery will take a 70 per cent stake in the sub £350m deal with Sky taking the remaining 30 per cent, giving both providers a valuable platform from which to market their paid content.
This contradicts earlier denials from Sky that any such move is afoot and would instead see the satellite broadcaster take charge of channel 5’s advertising sales operation, a move which would bump its share of the UK market from 20 to 30 per cent.
Present owner Richard Desmond has put the station up for sale in the expectation of sparking a bidding war between the pay TV giants to pick up the rights to a channel most famous for its screening of Big Brother and Neighbours.
He had hoped this would generate offers in the region of £700m after stumping up just £100m for the rights four years ago.
A spokesman for Channel 5 commented: "We have a number of bids, as expected, which we will evaluate with our advisers over the next few days. Certainly no deal has been done."
The rumoured takeover has already sparked competition fears however with fears News Corporation has undue influence in British media, particularly in the wake of the ongoing phone hacking scandal.