Members of the Independent Television Commission failed to come to a decision regarding the winner of the Channel 5 auction at their monthly meeting yesterday.
The decision is now likely to be announced towards the end of November, after the next monthly meeting. Of the four bidders, UKTV, the highest bidder is expected to win, despite worries over a high percentage of foreign ownership. Under ITC rules, providing all is legal, the award must go to the highest bidder unless another contender is offering “exceptional quality.”
The four bidders are:
Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited – £22,002,000 Pearson, MAI Group and Luxembourg-based CLT
New Century Television Ltd – £2,000,000 BSkyB, The Really Useful Group, Granada, TCI, Polygram and Kinnevik
UK TV Developments Ltd – £36,261,158 CanWest, Australia’s Network 10, Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems, SelecTV.
Virgin TV – £22,002,000
Media Jobs
Hello. We have downloaded cookies on your device. Some of these cookies are essential for the website to function. Others are non-essential and are used for analytics and advertising.
We need your consent for these types of cookies.
To withdraw your consent or change your cookie choices, please do this through your browser settings.
Otherwise, click OK to accept and continue.
