Desmond may bid for Five
EXPRESS Newspaper owner Richard Desmond has emerged as an unlikely frontrunner in the battle to buy Channel Five.
The owner of adult channel Television X has made no secret of his desire to expand his media empire but this is the first time he has been linked to the struggling terrestrial broadcaster.
It is understood Desmond has made it through to the final round of bidding for RTL’s loss-making station. Also thought to be in the running is John de Mol, the Dutch founder of Big Brother producer Endemol.
De Mol is believed to be working with Greek broadcasting group Antenna in a bid to revive his flagging Big Brother franchise.
Other names linked with the station include Endemol, Warner, NBC and BSkyB. ITV was also said to be interested but this has since cooled.
The deadline for first-round bids in the auction for the channel, which is being run by JP Morgan, passed on 21 June. The final round of bids will end next week. RTL declined to comment.
Analysts have valued Five at between £100m to £300m, with RTL understood to be holding out for at least £160m.
Five, which lost £37m last year, has caused RTL to write down almost £400m on a £500m investment.
Meanwhile Five caused a stir when it announced it would quit controversial online set-top box tie-up Project Canvas. The on-demand service, jointly owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva, is due to be launched in 2011.
It has been vehemently opposed by Sky and Virgin Media, who claim it will distort competition.