Tyne Tees And Granada Talks

Following last week’s moves by White Rose Television to persuade Yorkshire TV to give up its franchise, Tyne Tees is now in similar talks with Granada Television.

Granada originally made a bid for the north east franchise, joining forces with Border to back the North East Television bid for the licence.

Granada is now urging Tyne Tees to relinquish its licence anf merge with NE TV, who bid just £5m, compared with Tyne Tees’ £15m.

Tyne Tees has been firmly linked with Yorkshire TV of late. YTV took a 19% stake in the station at the beginning of the year, and the two now share a sales operation – Media And Airtime Sales.

YTV was widely tipped to takeover Tyne Tees when the ITC restrictions were lifted in 1994, but the high cash pay- ments that both companies have committed themselves to have made the tie-up less feasible.

If YTV and Tyne Tees were to merge, the two will be paying £52.7m per annum to the Treasury,compared to Granada’s £9m.

Granada’s more financially secure position obviously puts it in a stronger position to make an attractive bid for Tyne Tees. Tyne Tees is denying that it is in talks with Granada, but the issue seems likely to be discussed at the company’s extraordinary meeting on 22 November.

Meanwhile, White Rose is continuing its campaign to persuade YTV shareholders to vote against accepting the licence, in return for a stake in White Rose. White Rose is confident that it would then be awarded the licence by default. White Rose would pay only £17.4m to the Treasury (having passed the quality test) , compared with Yorkshire’s £37.7m. White Rose is now seeking talks with YTV’s main shareholders, Pearson and WH Smith.