Granada plays down ITV merger talks
The City was today awaiting an update on ITV Digital as administrator Deloitte & Touche prepared for last-ditch sales talks.
The network is expected to be sold off, either in its entirety or in parts, in a matter of days as the cash runs out to keep it alive.
More than 60 prospective buyers had emerged by the end of last week, including some interested in purchasing the venture as a going concern.
Discount retailer Kwik Save said it wanted to buy its most famous symbol - the knitted monkey at the heart of its marketing campaigns.
One weekend report linked US computer giant Microsoft with the venture, saying it was pulling together a consortium to buy the business.
Another report said City investment bank Investec had tabled a £120 million rescue bid for the company.
A spokeswoman for Deloitte & Touche said she could not comment on individual cases and that the City would likely be updated today or tomorrow.
Granada has sought to play down reports that merger talks with fellow ITV broadcaster Carlton are to be revived following ITV Digital’s demise.
A potential £5 billion deal would unite the bulk of the ITV network under one owner and could placate shareholders upset over ITV Digital’s collapse.
Granada boss Charles Allen was quoted as admitting the logic of a single ITV was ‘‘inescapable’’ and that he was sure it would happen.
But a spokesman for the company said: ‘‘People speculating that a deal is being cooked up right now are getting ahead of themselves.’’
Talks between Granada and Carlton broke down two months ago over disagreements about funding the losses at ITV Digital.
But the weekend reports suggested Mr Allen had been given the green light to strike a deal at a board meeting last week.
A merger would generate cost savings that could go some way to recouping the losses suffered by ITV Digital before it passed into administration.
It is thought both sides have already drawn up a corporate structure that would allow them to overcome competition hurdles.
Culture secretary Tessa Jowell told the House of Commons on Friday there were ‘‘established and new players’’ interested making the digital proposition work.
And she insisted ITV Digital’s collapse did not spell the end for the Government’s hopes of switching the whole country to digital TV by 2010.
