Media & Marketing: The decision by ITV to sell an 11.6 per cent stake in the Australian TV network Seven suggests its asset disposal programme is not over yet, which has implications for TV3, where it holds a 45 per cent stake.
The company, one of the largest TV players in Europe, has pledged to return value to its shareholders. It has also been the subject of a takeover bid. While one can understand the company's instincts to cash in its Irish chips at this point, does it really want to leave a television advertising market that is growing at 20 per cent a year?
The private equity firm Doughty Hanson wants to buy the station for €265 million, but a board meeting at ITV will decide whether it wants to match this offer. It is entitled to match the bid under its pre-emption rights.
Steve Bone, the chief executive of Doughty Hanson said yesterday he believed ITV would be getting "good value" if it accepted its bid, which would give ITV €120 million in total for its 45 per cent stake.
Considering the British broadcaster bought its stake for £18.7 million (€27.3 million), it must be a tempting offer. Clearly Doughty Hanson hope ITV will take the cash.
Bone believes this is so and is not slow make the point bluntly. "You would expect me to say so, but I believe this deal represents good value for ITV and comes at a time when they have pledged to return cash to their shareholders."
Doughty Hanson has it own challenges if it gets its hands on TV3. The programme supply agreement with ITV, which provides ratings toppers like Coronation Street, is due to end in about 18 months.
If ITV refuses to supply programmes like Coronation Street, TV3's schedules would start to resemble swiss cheese and its advertising take would take a serious hit.
Yesterday Bone said: " TV3 has a broad spectrum of programming, but we will sit down with ITV and have a robust commercial discussion. The contract has another 18 moths to run and I am sure a sensible discussion about this will take place".
Setanta upbeat
When companies are accused of overpaying for assets they tend to laugh the charge off with a nonchalant air. This is what Setanta Sports have been doing this week in relation to the £392 million (€574 million) the company paid out recently for English Premiership rights.
The company's co-founders Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan have been telling the British papers this week they will need less than one million subscribers to break even. The company have the rights to broadcast 46 games a season from August 2007.
The company certainly has a long way to go - it only has 150,000 subscribers at present in the UK, most of them in Scotland.
Be that as it may, the company believe they will be breaking into profits toward the end of the second season of a three-year deal.
Sky drives HD
Sky has given itself a decent competitive advantage against its cable rivals like NTL and Chorus by bringing high definition (HD) television into the Irish market.
From last Monday the technology, which has the potential to revolutionise television in the same way colour did, was made available in Ireland by Sky. HD reception is four times as good as current TV reception.
At present Sky digital has 407,000 subscribers in Ireland or 29 per cent of all households. The picture quality with HD is very impressive, particularly for football matches and wildlife programmes. However, it is unforgiving for TV presenters with skin blemishes.
Getting HD does not come cheap. People will need to spend €449 on a set top box and € 15 subscription per month. Viewers also need a HD ready television. Sky will screen all Premiership matches it covers from August and BBC has announced that it will be broadcasting the World Cup next month in HD.
Reports from the UK suggest that some customers are experiencing long lead times in installation of set top boxes. Sky Ireland said it would be doing its best to ensure that the demand is met and lead times for installation are kept to a minimum.
It is not clear when NTL and Chorus will be able to respond with their own HD products. A spokeswoman said HD would be part of future "product roll outs", but no date has been given.
Munster fans
The emotionally charged Heineken Cup final win by Munster last Saturday delivered an audience boost for RTÉ ahead of the summer schedules.
The match between Munster and Biarritz attracted an average audience of 532,000 viewers.
At one point viewership numbers peaked at 777,000, possibly when scrum half Peter Stringer scampered over for his try.
The Dublin agency AFA O'Meara said this week that considering all the hype and publicity leading up to the match, one could argue that the figures were "somewhat on the low side" and smaller than those achieved for the Six Nations game between Ireland and England at Twickenham.
However, the agency admitted figures only measured "in-home" viewing levels and do not take into account the tens of thousands of people who watched the match in pubs and clubs around the country, not to mention O'Connell Street in Limerick city.
