UTV and UTV Ireland bought by ITV for £100m

Elmo · 28-08-2015 05:42PM

galtee boy wrote: »

I doubt ITV will cough up approx 1m each for ITV 2,3 & 4 to go on Saorview for such a small audience and that's only for standard def. I think right now, it's very much 50-50 if they will keep UTVI going. Might be a lot more profitable and a lot less hassle, to just put up the soaps for sale again and let TV3 and RTE fight it out for the rights.

RTE won't go near ITV soaps even now they have left TV3. TV3 would just complain even more if Coronation Street return to RTE One.

Richard · 29-08-2015 10:33AM

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

ITV will have no interest in keeping the UTV brand. I predict ITV Ulster as the name

10 years ago, maybe, but I think ITV Northern Ireland would be the name chosen. Remember that their breakfast bulletins are branded "Good Morning Northern Ireland". The last time I looked, however, the Radio Times called it ITV Ulster, and have done for many years.

If ITV do buy UTV(I) I wonder could we see ITV2,3,4 coming to Saorview as well?............nightmare for TV3 and RTE, in terms of advertising market.

Depends on what rights they have and how much it would cost ITV to put those channels on Saorview. Don't think it'll be their top priority.

formerly scottish paddy · 29-08-2015 11:01AM

galtee boy wrote: »

I doubt ITV will cough up approx 1m each for ITV 2,3 & 4 to go on Saorview for such a small audience and that's only for standard def.

Remember the costs on Saorview go down the more channels that are on it, and apart from the transmission costs ITV will have nothing else to pay, easy money.

icdg · 29-08-2015 12:03PM

Richard wrote: »

10 years ago, maybe, but I think ITV Northern Ireland would be the name chosen. Remember that their breakfast bulletins are branded "Good Morning Northern Ireland". The last time I looked, however, the Radio Times called it ITV Ulster, and have done for many years.

I can't remember a time when they haven't, British based commentators have often referred to the station, particularly before 1993, as "Ulster". However it was always Ulster Television in those days.

Elmo · 29-08-2015 10:35PM

Just a dot TBH

Charles Slane · 29-08-2015 10:56PM

Elmo wrote: »

Just a dot TBH

Ha ha! Very clever!

JTMan · 30-08-2015 09:05AM

Ian Guider in the Sunday Business Post reports:

John McCann, the CEO, says that UTV radio interest are not for sale.
ITV are thought to have made an approach to purchase all UTV's TV assets including UTV Ireland.
John McCann described ITV's summer performance as the worst in 15 years.

bk · 30-08-2015 10:13AM

JTMan wrote: »

Ian Guider in the Sunday Business Post reports:
ITV are thought to have made an approach to purchase all UTV's TV assets including UTV Ireland.

I think it makes a lot of sense, it is clear that ITV are positioning themselves for the future of IPTV and Video on Demand.

I think they want their channels and content widely available through out UK and Ireland. The days of small regional broadcasters is quickly coming to an end.

I expect we will see the full suite of ITV channels on the Sky EPG, eVision, etc. and that in time we might see the ITV Player become available here in Ireland.

All the ITV channels on Saorview, would be nice, but I doubt it. Why hasn't Channel 4 done that already. Do I do think it leaves an opportunity for Saorview to court C4 and ITV to get some more of their channels on the service.

Delta2113 · 30-08-2015 01:18PM

Utv Ireland player coming soon to Upc.....

JCX BXC · 30-08-2015 06:21PM

How could the management be surprised with this outcome? They came in to Ireland with the idea that its completely the same as the UK market and are now being burned for their stupidity.

deanh · 30-08-2015 08:04PM

Carnacalla wrote: »

How could the management be surprised with this outcome? They came in to Ireland with the idea that its completely the same as the UK market and are now being burned for their stupidity.

Well they have the second most watched channel in the irish market with a presence on all platforms, including soarview. That has to be an attractive basis for investment.

StreetLight · 30-08-2015 10:16PM

Delta2113 wrote: »

Utv Ireland player coming soon to Upc.....

Before too long that might be:
"ITV Player coming soon to Virgin Media Ireland".

iseegirls · 30-08-2015 10:33PM

deanh wrote: »

Well they have the second most watched channel in the irish market with a presence on all platforms, including soarview. That has to be an attractive basis for investment.

Just a note that TV3 and RTE2 have been the second most watched channel in Ireland so far in various months in 2015. UTV Ireland haven't come close.

Richard · 30-08-2015 11:39PM

Carnacalla wrote: »

How could the management be surprised with this outcome? They came in to Ireland with the idea that its completely the same as the UK market and are now being burned for their stupidity.

People have been watching UTV in the republic since it launched. It was very popular in the pre-digital age. Its lack of availability on Sky and Saorview hurt it, but the only way it could appear on those platforms was to ensure it had the rights to broadcast those programmes.

But people haven't returned to the UTV brand, and those that have the choice seem to be opting for "proper UTV".

Elmo · 31-08-2015 02:21PM

iseegirls wrote: »

Just a note that TV3 and RTE2 have been the second most watched channel in Ireland so far in various months in 2015. UTV Ireland haven't come close.

And neither TV3 or RTE 2 have come close to being number 1, the gap is huge between 1 and 2, TV3, RTE 2 and UTV are far closer together.

03-10-2015 10:35AM

Are there any updates on the proposed ITV buyout of UTV?

icdg · 03-10-2015 11:00AM

No, story seems to have died a death for now. Evidently the Belfast Telegraph's claim that a deal was done was greatly exaggerated

ftakeith · 03-10-2015 11:28AM

icdg wrote: »

No, story seems to have died a death for now. Evidently the Belfast Telegraph's claim that a deal was done was greatly exaggerated

the next ITV and UTV annual report is where a possible deal maybe will be announced

StreetLight · 04-10-2015 11:59AM

Might be interesting to note that the domain name of itvireland.ie was registered by Michael Wilson of UTV ROI. It appears to have been registered just one day after utvireland.ie in January 2013 for a period of three years.

Elmo · 04-10-2015 05:40PM

StreetLight wrote: »

Might be interesting to note that the domain name of itvireland.ie was registered by Michael Wilson of UTV ROI. It appears to have been registered just one day after utvireland.ie in January 2013 for a period of three years.

Bizzare that .ie would allow the reg of that domain considering UTV is only a small part of the ITV network, itvireland.com would be a more important domain as anyone can register a .com

I suspect that it was ITVs intention to drop its deal with TV3, TV3 must have been very undiplomatic when negotiating rights.

icdg · 04-10-2015 10:09PM

IEDR used to be sticklers for who was allowed register what. While it used to be UTV's position that they had rights to the ITV trademark I suspect they may have given them up as part of the deals they have done with ITV and in particular the renegotiation of the networking arrangements.

B17G · 13-10-2015 06:13PM

Renewed speculation..........

http://www.independent.ie/business/world/utv-media-shares-jump-on-sale-talks-with-itv-31602216.html

lertsnim · 14-10-2015 04:59AM

It was announced yesterday

icdg · 14-10-2015 06:47AM

No such thing was announced yesterday. A couple of people latched on to an Independent report that claimed to announce something new (that UTV Ireland was "confirmed" to be included in sale talks). In fact this was not new and had been confirmed by UTV back in August, as this report from the horse's mouth shows clearly:

http://www.u.tv/News/2015/08/24/UTV-Media-in-talks-to-sell-TV-channels-43580

Why people, including several news organisations thought this Independent report was something new I don't know, a quite clear case of did not do the research.

When it is confirmed - IF it is confirmed - it will be in the form of a Stock Exchange announcement.

Gonzo · 14-10-2015 08:11PM

We first heard of this over a month ago and nothing since, I really hope the Sale to ITV goes through soon enough, Ive never liked UTV's branding and their very amateur graphics and websites etc. Would be good to see UTV Northern Ireland and UTV Ireland take on the ITV corporate look and feel.

Rick_ · 14-10-2015 10:22PM

Seen this posted on another site as a mock-up, but looks good, no?

irishfeen · 15-10-2015 09:49AM

Paddy C wrote: »

Seen this posted on another site as a mock-up, but looks good, no?

That looks very classy! Would be a nice ident.

Elmo · 15-10-2015 02:29PM

irishfeen wrote: »

That looks very classy! Would be a nice ident.

Bizzarely looks like the original UTV Ireland idents with the ITV logo.

ITV have never really had a great logo, took me a while to like the current one. The other ITV network logos were not great. At least they had local logos.

channelsurfer2 · 15-10-2015 02:31PM

All gone quiet again...Sale must be going through some long due diligence process at this stage or else ITV is driving a hard bargain.

15-10-2015 03:19PM

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

All gone quiet again...Sale must be going through some long due diligence process at this stage or else ITV is driving a hard bargain.

Yes,it was supposed to be completed this week.Maybe there will be some news later today or Friday!

UTV and UTV Ireland bought by ITV for £100m

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