"C4 & C5 have discussed a merger"

So, if Channel 5 bought the Government, then they would be able to merge with Channel 4??? What a good idea.

There we go - the message is finally getting though... hehe

My point is that is WOULD be sold to private investors to start with, as was BT. The likelihood of those shares being mopped up by anybody within five years of the sell-off would be very, very doubtful.

DVB, you might be saying "if", but plenty of others here haven't been saying so.

Hmmmmm, interesting...

*thinks*

http://www.leeseaman.com/tvmocks/4/four_15FEB04.jpg

...Naaah.

Do not let the headline confuse the issue. Channel 4 Chief Executive Mark Thompson was not talking to the majority owner of five.

Would Channel 4 Chief Executive Mark Thompson really be prepared to talk to Lord Hollick, the chairman of United Business Media, about a possible merger of their interests if he did not have a green light to do so from the responsible politburo member, the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell?

Since UBM is only a minority shareholder in five, then perhaps, if one reads between the lines, it could mean that Channel 4 would considern buying out UBM's shares in five. This would ensure that five remained partly in European ownership if Bertelsman's RTL Group finally decide to throw in the towel and sell out to Uncle Rupert, or another non-European media giant.

The four news one would work well IMO.

It's sort of possible that Channel 4 (a publicly-owned company in the non-stock exchange sense) could buy Channel 5 and make it effectively state-owned...? Quite a nice way of getting rid of Murdoch's chances of buying C5!

It would be possible 'I Hate...'. There would need to be a referendum on the subject however, so I think that this would be held back until after the smoke from the iraq war has fully settled.

Yes why not have all the Media state controlled. I am sorry to advise you that your bogeyman Rupert Murdoch has said publically that News Corp is not interested in buying Channel 5.

But would that rule out the possiblility of B$kyB (of which News Corp only owns 35%, as far as I recall) buying Channel 5 ?

You're kidding, right?

The government doesn't need to hold a referendum on anything unless it wants to (and feels sure of the results, usually).

However, we can all vote in the government's popularity poll (sorry, General Election) - probably next year.

Rupert Murdoch is Chairman of BSkyB and his son runs it. News Corp is the largest shareholder by far and effectively runs BSkyB. So as I have said, Rupert Murdoch has said publically that he is not interested in buying Five. This bogeyman will not be playing ball for you.