Jonathan Kaye's blog

Following the announcement this morning (Tuesday January 31st) that BSkyB are soon to launch a standalone OTT non satellite or subscription based service to target the 13m homes in UK without a Sky subscription and rival both Netflix (UK) and Lovefilm, I wonder if this means that Sky will shortly buy the FetchTV assets of London based IP Vision Ltd. who recently entered administration? The two companies were already working closely together, and FetchTV offers all the functionality and capabilities Sky were describing this morning. Not that Sky necessarily need to buy them, but the technology used by the FetchTV platform is leading edge.

So this is it! After over 18 months of talk, today we learn that the race to buy the UK's fifth nationwide terrestrial broadcaster, Channel 5, from RTL Group is in its final few days or so, with a shortlist of 3 potential buyers: Portland TV (UK), Channel 4 (UK), and either Timw Warner or NBC Universal.

A tie-up with Channel 4 is oft talked about, but C4's public service remit is not exactly a match with Channel 5's mainstream entertainment based fare.

Portland, owned by colourful UK based newspaper proprietor, Richard Desmond, currently operates only soft-core porn TV channels. Whilst the buy may thus face few regulatory hurdles guarantying a quick sale, we are in unchartered waters as to what viewers might end up with as a result!