Channel 4 has withdrawn from the bidding for Virgin Media’s entertainment channels, because it can't afford it. The broadcaster is reported to have told Virgin it would not submit a binding bid for Virgin Media Television, because it believes it has better uses for its limited cash resources.

With Channel 4 out, Virgin Media faces the dilemma of whether to sell the channels to its archrival BSkyB, which put in the largest first round bid at about £160 million (E187m), or one of the remaining contenders thought to include Time Warner.

Virgin had already said it would insert a clause for buyers saying they mustn't sell on to Sky (it wanted to avoid Sky getting the assets on the cheap) but has said it would sell direct to Sky.

Other posts by :

1. SES happy with releasing 160MHz of spectrum for 5G
2. Inmarsat “likely to win appeal” over Ligado/AST action
3. FCC seeks fair play over foreign satellite access
4. Bank raises RocketLab target price
5. Paramount throws kitchen sink
6. Ukraine wants its own LEO system
7. SpaceX outlines Starlink cellular delivery plan
8. NAB vs CTIA on C-band release
9. Laser terminals to operate at 100x faster

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, Content, M&A, Rights