Richard Desmond to announce sale of Channel 5 to US broadcaster Viacom.
Richard Desmond is poised to announce the sale of Channel 5 to the US broadcaster that owns MTV for as much as £450m.
US media group Viacom, which owns channels including Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, is expected to announce the deal on Thursday when it reports its latest financial results.
The price tag falls short of the aggressive £700m-plus target originally set by Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers.
Nonetheless, it represents a significant profit on the £103.5m the media tycoon paid to buy the then loss-making Channel 5 from the German broadcaster RTL in 2010. Desmond turned the business round by slashing costs and bringing Big Brother over from Channel 4, while boosting his other investments by broadcasting regular adverts for his press titles. It is not clear what Viacom will do with Channel 5's £350m-a-year TV ad sales business. But it is thought likely that it will involve Rupert Murdoch's Sky.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/30/richard-desmond-sale-channel-5-viacom
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