ITVD sell-offs bring just £3,300
ITV Digital's administrator, Deloitte & Touche, has slowly begun turning the assets of the ailing pay-TV business into cash. Close to £1bn has been poured into the venture but, so far, D&T has raised just £3,300 - from the sale of three scooters formerly used by staff.
That may be the easy bit for the administrators. Bids for ITVD look thin on the ground. A sale or break-up is likely to yield just 'tens of millions' to creditors, insiders said. D&T has axed a further 120 jobs, making 1,000 lost in 12 months.
Former ITVD boss Stephen Grabiner - in charge when it was called ON Digital - is among the venture capitalists to express an interest. He now works for Apax Partners. A management buyout, led by ITVD's managing director Rob Fyfe, is also possible.
The Government would prefer the digital licence to be taken over by 'free' broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4 or Channel 5. They are worried that venture capitalists will focus on making a quick buck.
The administrators are obliged to salvage what they can for the creditors. Joint owners Granada and Carlton are owed most. Part of the £1bn they invested was in secured loans that may take precedence over other debts.
BSkyB is a big creditor. It is locked in payment disputes with ITVD over channels it supplies. It owns the freehold of ITVD's Battersea HQ.
The digital licence is the most desirable asset. Details of the 1.2m subscribers are also valuable. Other assets include 1.3m digital set-top boxes (worth about £80m), transmission technology (£10m-20m), office equipment (less than £1m) and 1,350 staff and contract workers.
