Richard Desmond close to buying Five

 Newspaper tycoon Richard Desmond is closing to buying terrestrial broadcaster Five.

The channel has been put up for sale by owners RTL with interest from a number of organisations such as Endemol and Time Warner – but it looks to be Desmond who will purchase Five.

According to The Daily Telegraph Richard Desmond is close to finalising a deal to purchase terrestrial broadcaster Five – and its two digital channels – in a deal possibly worth £100m. Five was launched in 1997 as a new broadcaster on the terrestrial platform to provide more competition for the likes of ITV and Channel Four. However, Five has always struggled in the ratings and has heavily relied on American imports such as CSI, NCIS and Law & Order to attract audiences.

The Hotel Inspector, a long-running Five format.

It was announced earlier this year that owners RTL were considering their options where Five were concerned; either selling the channel or merging it with either Channel Four or ITV. Four were not in favour of any merger between the two broadcasters – preferring instead merging with BBC Worldwide. Companies such as Time Warner and Endemol have expressed an interest in buying Five but it seems as though it’ll be Richard Desmond who will be the new owner. Desmond currently owns The Daily Express and The Daily Star, as well as the Sunday versions of both papers, as well as the celebrity magazine OK.

Desmond is reportedly keen to retain Five’s PSB commitments, which include airing news bulletins, and is thought to hope promoting the channel through his publications will boost its ratings. Any such deal would likely have to be approved by the competition commission and could be opposed by other broadcasters such as ITV or even Sky, though given Sky is part of News International which owns The Sun, The Times – that does seem unlikely.

The Wright Stuff, a popular Five series