Carlton And United News & Media Set For £7.8bn Merger
The UK’s largest commercial television broadcasting group is set to be created by the merger of two of the ITV Network’s heavyweight companies, Carlton Communications and United News & Media (UNM). The £7.8 billion deal will create a company with the scale to compete with the two groups’ ITV rival, Granada Media Group.
It is expected that the combined group would breach the Government’s regulatory restrictions over control of advertising revenue: no one ITV group is allowed to command more than 25% of national TV ad revenue. However, these restrictions are currently under review by the Office of Fair Trading and may have been relaxed by the time the merger is finalised (see OFT To Review ITV Companies’ Revenue Share Restrictions). Failing this, the two groups may be forced to sell off some of their smaller TV franchises in order to complete the merger.
More details and analysis to follow on Newsline…
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