Liberty Global's proposed takeover of Virgin Media has put broadcasting companies in the spotlight, so it is no surprise ITV has crossed the bid radar again.
The free-to-air broadcaster's shares have climbed 3.5p to 120.5p, making it the biggest riser in a downbeat FTSE 100. This follows a 3% rise on Friday which has sent the shares to their highest level since early May 2007.
Later that year ITV was said to be in the sights of Apax, and private equity firms are among the favourite supposed bidders this time round. Apax and CVC Partners have both been mentioned, as have rival broadcasters RTL and NBC or media groups Mediaset and Time-Warner.
ITV recently showed its own international aspirations by buying a US producer of reality TV programmes, paying $40m for a 61.5% stake in Gurney Productions, with an option to buy the remaining 38.5% within the next three to five years.
Meanwhile BT is steady at 275.3p despite reports it is in talks to take over the UK sports rights currently held by ESPN, the Disney-owned broadcaster. Espirito Santo said:
The broadcast rights would include certain matches from the German Bundesliga, the Europa League and the English FA Cup. Apparently BSkyB is interested in the assets too which may bid up the price.
BT has still not announced its commercial strategy for selling its sports content to customers (including details about the different platforms and interactive services). However, we know BT will be able to sell its sport directly to Sky users having secured channels on its platform. We expect wholesale deals will be struck with both Sky and Virgin Media in due course.
Overall the market has drifted lower, with the FTSE 100 down 5.90 points at 6322.36. With little in the way of economic news and Wall Street shut for President's Day, this may well continue for the rest of the trading session.
Mining groups have fallen back as copper hit a three-week low, with Antofagasta down 30p at £10.89 and Anglo American 12p lower at £20.17.
Meanwhile Bumi Resources has risen 10.6p to 387.9p as Indonesian investor Rosan Roeslani's Recapital Group sold its near 10% stake ahead of a crunch shareholder meeting this week. The stake has been sold to companies controlled by Indonesia's Tanoesoedibjo family, but the buyer has been deemed by the UK takeover panel not to be acting with Bumi co-founders the Bakrie family. The Bakrie's and fellow founder Nat Rothschild are engaged in a battle for control of the Bumi business.
