Porn King Richard Desmond buys (channel) 5

mike65

Okay its been a while since he made his pile with Readers Wives. These days Desmond is best known for the Express titles and OK magazine. He has purchased 5 for a piddling 105 million sterling. Even with its sub 5% market share and the ad revenue still not flowing too quickly right now that seems like a bit of a steal in the long run.

He has been talking "freely" about all sorts, including reviving TOTP, taking in BB from C4 and less likely undertakings such as nicking Corrie and Panorama.

It'll be interesting to see if and how the channel is repositioned, it always was the ugly duckling of the terrestrials.

Minstrel27

He wants to turn five into a steaming pile of **** so. A shame as it has improved greatly since its first few years.

watty

The comments here made to me are:

"That does not bode well"

and

"Was it much use anyway?"

SugarHigh

Why buy a terrestrial channel? Wouldn't it be cheaper to start up a digital channel because once the switch is fully completed the only advantage the old terrestrial channels will have is brand awareness and IP's that they own, five has very little brand power and I can't think of a single successful show that has been created by five.

Surely he could achieve all he wants to achieve by setting up a new channel or just buying some cheap digital channel. All five has is rights to a few American shows which surely this guy could have been out bid for in the future.

watty

Five is technically a Digital Channel. Though it was on Analogue, it wasn't meant to be originally and many could not/do not receive it on Analogue.

A startup channel would also have no access to Terrestrial Digital and be lower down EPG.

All of Wales and a large part of Scotland are now Digital Only.
Brand awareness is worth more than what he paid. It was only so cheap because it's loss making.

mike65

Channel 5 is worth buying for the rights associated with Peppa Pig, Fifi and the Flowertots and so on. The kids just love them.

Elmo

I think that standards at five which aren't that high are going to be even lower. Lets face it they aren't going to start producing strong documentry, drama or news programming. at least Live from Studio Five is safe.

Hopefully they might remove the encryption and make it available to Irish Sky viewers.

Elmo

zorro2566 wrote: »

Hopefully they might remove the encryption and make it available to Irish Sky viewers.

You mean you hope that they will make it available to Sky viewers on their EPG? Fiver and Five US have issues in relation to FTA Satellite.

I think Fiver and Five US will become PPV Porn Channels!

Mike 1972

People get their undergarments in a twist about a pornographer buying Channel 5 but TBH the fact that its the guy who owns The horrible Daily Express is a lot more worrying :mad:

Elmo

This also has to get approval from The Competition Authority.

Kat1170

zorro2566 wrote: »

Hopefully they might remove the encryption and make it available to Irish Sky viewers.

It is, under 'Other Channels'

FIVE 10.773 H 22000 5/6

Richard Desmond joins Project Canvas


Richard Desmond, new owner of Channel 5, has thrust the channel back into Project Canvas, the BBC-led next-generation set-top box.
Five left the project just six weeks ago, citing the expense of its £16m share of the £115m start-up costs for the Project. Since then it has new owners - Desmond's Northern and Shell paid £103 at the end of July - and a new board.




He'd be daft not to take a gamble on Canvas. Spectrum squeeze and high debts mean that Five has missed out on an HD slot on FreeView and Freesat - although it Five HD is available on Sky's platform. The interactive nature of Canvas, which includes web widgets and an app store, suits a media empire that spans a variety of popular properties.



Desmond began publishing in 1974, moving into telephone sex chat lines and jazz mags in the 1980s. He sold off the latter in 2004. More respectable titles were added to the group, including the acquisition of Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers in 2000. In the most recent annual financial statement, N&S recorded profits of £41.1m on turnover of £483m for 2008, the bulk of which was earned from UK publishing, and employed over 1,100 staff.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/24/five_rejoins_canvas/

Mike 1972

Desmond still owns interests in several UK porn channels

cisk wrote: »

Desmond began publishing in 1974, moving into telephone sex chat lines and jazz mags in the 1980s. He sold off the latter in 2004. More respectable titles were added to the group, including the acquisition of Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers in 2000.

Some people have a funny definition of "respectable" (and indeed "newspaper")

Macy0161

mike65 wrote: »

Channel 5 is worth buying for the rights associated with Peppa Pig, Fifi and the Flowertots and so on. The kids just love them.

I don't know whether it makes it worth buying, but it certainly trumps cbeebies in the morning with our children, with Noddy, Fifi, Peppa Pig and Thomas!

It has some good imports (CSI's & NCIS spring to mind), but the only five produced shows that I recall watching are fifth gear and the gadget show (niether exactly quality television). Most of their "documentaries" end up on TV3 anyway.

Elmo

Macy0161 wrote: »

It has some good imports (CSI's & NCIS spring to mind), but the only five produced shows that I recall watching are fifth gear and the gadget show (niether exactly quality television). Most of their "documentaries" end up on TV3 anyway.

If you look at the early years of five and TV3 there isn't much difference. Import channels unwilling to rock the boat.