Five reportedly on the block

UK free-to-air broadcaster Five is about to be officially put on sale according to UK press reports. These suggest that Five’s owner, pan-European broadcast group RTL, has a team working on a tender process.

The story originated in the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, which added that the roster of potential bidders includes fellow UK free-to-air and pay broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and BSkyB as well as one of the US studios or production and distribution giant Endemol.

RTL management have spoken publicly about a possible merger of Five with Channel 4, but not about selling the channel.

Along with digital spin-off Fiver, the channel suffered badly during the economic downturn with advertising revenues sharply down.