Channel 4 For Sale: ITV, Comcast, Discovery, Paramount & Outside Bet Vivendi All Touted As Sales Process For ‘It’s A Sin’ Broadcaster Gets Underway

deadline.com:

ITV, Comcast, Discovery and Paramount have been tipped as potential Channel 4 buyers, along with outside bets such as European giant Vivendi, as the UK government’s two-year-long process to privatize and sell the broadcaster begins.Sources indicated each potential bidder will be scrutinizing the process in minute detail to see how Channel 4’s all-important remit will change.

If given the opportunity to own the rights to its shows for the first since its 1982 foundation, the network becomes quite a prospect.Deadline has spoken to several within and outside of Channel 4 to get a feel for who may be interested in acquiring when it hits the sales block, with the government valuing at £1BN ($1.3BN) when news of the controversial privatization was leaked earlier this week.

Some sources have questioned the value, pointing to a lack of the government cost benefit analysis.The UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, ITV, is an obvious starting point and adding Channel 4 to its roster would be another string to the bow in the shape of a youth-skewing, alternative channel that has been responsible for hits including It’s a Sin and Gogglebox.If it were to bid,  one Channel 4 insider suggested ITV would be keen to keep it as distinct as possible.“Channel 4 is a very powerful brand, you get access to a whole load of 16-24 year olds, so ITV wouldn’t want to destroy that brand and I imagine would keep them very separate,” added the insider.Sources flagged competition concerns, however, due in part to the circa-70% of the ad market ITV would occupy if it were to acquire Channel 4.

A similar situation in France, where public broadcasters M6 and TF1 are currently jumping through regulatory hoops to merge, has proved hugely controversial.“This