RTL Pledges To Retain Stake In Channel Five
RTL, the pan-European broadcaster, has vowed to maintain its stake in Channel Five, despite Government plans to clear the way for non-EU investors to acquire the commercial station.
The relaxation of the media ownership regulations to allow large newspaper groups to own Five (see Draft Communications Bill Relaxes Cross Media Rules), has prompted fierce speculation that RTL may decide to sell its 65% stake in the channel to Rupert Murdoch’s News International, once the Communications Bill comes in to force next year.
However, RTL chief executive, Gerhard Zeiler, has dismissed the suggestions, telling the Financial Times: “We are not sellers of Five. Anyone who wants to get his hands on Five, it’s fine by us, but we won’t sell.”
He also indicated that the company, which is part of Germany’s Bertelsmann media empire, is keen to increase its stake in the channel and would bid for the remaining 35% share owned by UBM, if the group, owned by Lord Hollick, decided to sell. He said: “If [Lord Hollick] wants to sell, he would want to get more than one party interested – and we would defiantly want to be in there.”
The news will be welcomed by politicians, who under the leadership of Lord Puttnam, have threatened to vote down the Communications Bill unless the Government accepts a proposal to impose public interest tests on US media groups wanting to buy Channel Five (see Government Faces Growing Threat From Rebel Peers).
Reports suggest that Lord Puttnam is currently working on a draft of the proposal, which would end the deadlock over the relaxation of the media ownership rules (see Puttnam Plan Could End Media Ownership Deadlock), with Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell’s, officials.
Rupert Murdoch has repeatedly denied any interest in Five, but peers are concerned that plans to allow the Australian-born media mogul to extend his empire into UK terrestrial TV, would lead to him achieving “unprecedented dominance” in the newly deregulated landscape (see Puttnam Threatens To Quash Communications Bill).
Channel Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv
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