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ITV to merge with Five one day. It’s the way I’d bet. Forget all this Channel 4-Five chat, those numbers add up to nine, and more to the point Channel 4 has to get a lot more enthusiastic about a deal. ITV, meanwhile, has long been interested but there has been one thing holding it back. Well, until next week.
Think of all the compelling synergies for the viewer for a start. You could have Neighbours followed by Emmerdale. You could bring Peter Andre to mass audience television on Five or on Fiver. You could have Natasha Kaplinsky presenting all sorts of news after dark. Quality television on top of more quality.
Anyway, those in the know tell me that ITV and RTL have had many conversations about a Channel 3/5 tie up. But ITV has been spooked by worries about advertising regulations. If it joined forces with Five, then ITV would have had no chance of winning a relaxation of the rules governing the sale of advertising on its main channel. (For those who don’t know and care, those rules prevent ITV raising the price of ads if it loses viewers).
Next week, though, a long awaited review of those rules comes to a close. A final decision from the Competition Commission could come next week. ITV probably won’t get much benefit, judging by the CC’s half-time verdict. With that all out of the way, the commercial broadcaster can move onto to other ideas, liking getting its hands on Live from Studio Five.
RTL has long been up for a deal involving Five, but it won’t want cash, it’ll want a chunk of ITV. How much the six million dollar question, but it is hard to see Five being worth much more than 15 per cent of the whole ITV plc. Although the Germans could throw some cash on table to get better terms
Mind you, ITV has got new management now, and no doubt Mr Adam Crozier has got a few ideas of his own as to how he will run the Britain’s second most watched broadcaster. Let’s see if he likes Flash Forward enough. He should.
** More on this from James Ashton at The Sunday Times today — 25/04
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