Virgin Media’s portfolio of VMtv niche channels has been up for sale since March, and now has an enthusiastic bunch of potential buyers looking for acquisitions. B
SkyB is currently reported to be leading the pack that includes Time Warner, Channel 4, RTL and NBC-Universal.
B
SkyB is reported by London’s Financial Times to be the lead bidder having tendered £160m ($255m), said to be some 60% ahead of the next bid. Virgin’s channels include a pair of Bravo channels (unrelated to the US Bravo Channel), Living/Living 2, Challenge and Challenge Jackpot and flagship channel Virgin 1.
The FT suggests that there is no guarantee that cableco Virgin will sell its channels to B
SkyB, its fiercest rival. There’s also no guarantee that the UK’s competition authorities will green light a bid, given that it would reinforce the frequent claim that
Sky is “dominating” UK broadcasting.
However, this sale is a precursor to another, not dissimilar sale, comprising Virgin’s 50% of the UKTV bundle of channels, which comprise ‘Dave’ and ‘Gold’, and where the remaining 50% is held by BBC Worldwide.
Source:RapidTVNews
01-06-2009
Linear Mode
