Discovery Communications, the US telecoms giant behind Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, today dropped out of the bidding to buy Richard Desmond’s Channel 5, sources claim.
Desmond, who also owns the Daily Express and Daily Star, called in Barclays to advise on a sale of the Big Brother broadcaster in January, with the media mogul hoping the TV station he bought for £103.5 million in 2010 could raise as much as £700 million.
Discovery had been in talks with Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB about a joint bid for Channel 5, which also broadcasts Neighbours, worth about £300 million, but the US giant has walked away from a deal, Reuters has reported.
Discovery had been understood to be planning to take a 70% stake, with Sky the remaining 30%. But insiders said Sky, in which Murdoch’s News Corporation has a 39% stake, could still be interested in Channel 5.
