Desmond to complete £450m Channel 5 sale
Richard Desmond is to complete the sale of Channel 5 to MTV owner Viacom for up to £450 million, it was reported today.
The Guardian said the deal will be announced in New York later by Viacom, which also owns children’s channel Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
It is expected to fall short of the £700 million price tag put on the business by Mr Desmond, who also owns the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers through his Northern & Shell company.
But it represents a significant profit on the £103.5 million he paid to buy the then loss-making channel from German broadcaster RTL in 2010.
It would mark the first time that a US broadcaster has taken control of one of the UK’s five free-to-air channels.
Channel Five was launched in 1997 and broadcasts popular shows such as Neighbours. Under Mr Desmond, it revived Big Brother after the show was axed by Channel 4.
The business also includes the 5* and 5 USA channels as well as +1 variants showing them an hour later.
Viacom’s investment in entertainment, reality and children’s television is seen as making it a good fit with Channel 5’s current schedules.
A spokesman for Viacom declined to comment. Northern & Shell could not immediately be reached for comment.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
