Reports this morning suggest the financial consortium of Greg Dyke, Apax Partners, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, which last week bid for control of ITV, would seek a merger with Five should they gain control of the broadcaster.
According to a report in today’s Daily Telegraph, the proposed merger would take the shape of an invitation by the consortium to German firm Bertelsmann, which holds a 90.4% stake in RTL Group, parent company of Five, to take a stake in the merged company.
The merger would boost ITV’s portfolio of channels, with Five understood to be developing several digital offerings, as well as procuring digital terrestrial capacity through a deal with Top Up TV.
A merger between ITV and Five would prove tricky, however, with Ofcom, the Office of Fair Trading and the Department of Trade and Industry all certain to demand close scrutiny and assurances that no competition guidelines would be breached.
In addition to its claims over the potential merger, the Telegraph claims the bidding consortium has plans to take ITV back into pay-TV, with subscription based channels a likely area of focus.
The last approach by the consortium was rebuffed by ITV, which claimed that it would not be in the interests of shareholders (see ITV Rejects Take-Over Bid).
A new approach by the consortium is now expected, with a “cash sweetener” intended to win over the ITV board.
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