RTL 'would welcome' Murdoch at Channel 5

BSkyB's audacious poaching of Dawn Airey from Channel 5 set off gossip that its next target is Channel 5 itself. Lord Hollick's United Business Media owns 35 per cent of Channel 5, while RTL, the pan-European broadcaster, has the rest.

While RTL has signalled its strong commitment to owning and investing in Channel 5, United has no long-term interest in the network and it has been trying to sell its stake. United negotiated to sell the holding to RTL in the past, but RTL was not willing to pay the £300m asking price. RTL has now said it is no longer interested in buying the United stake, but the group said it looked forward to working with a new partner in the venture.

New media legislation, now passing through Parliament, will allow Rupert Murdoch's Sky empire to buy Channel 5 for the first time. That leaves Sky as a logical acquirer of United's holding in Channel 5.

RTL yesterday indicated that it would "welcome" Sky as its new partner in Channel 5, if it bought United's holding. Sky's marketing expertise and huge programme-buying power would bring a lot to the network, which has an annual programming budget of £150m.

A senior RTL source said the "door is open" to Sky. However, there are major flaws to the theory that Sky will move on Channel 5 which makes this unlikely, at least until it has seen whether it can achieve its free-to-air ambitions through its place on digital terrestrial platform instead.

Analysts said that Sky did not like buying minority stakes that did not give it control. The company is still stinging from the money it threw away on Kirch. And Lord Hollick is in no hurry to sell – we are at a low point in the advertising cycle, which is not the time to get a good price for media assets. Don't expect Mr Murdoch to hand Lord Hollick a cheque any time soon.