Viacom, the new owner of Channel 5, has ruled out shutting down the station’s in-house advertising sales team in favour of outsourcing, in a move that is likely to disappoint BSkyB and Channel 4.
The British companies had been hoping to pick up a lucrative deal to sell advertising on Channel 5’s behalf. The rivals were preparing to go head to head to pitch for the for the £330m-a-year business as recently as last week.
Viacom came out the unexpected winner of an auction of Channel 5 by the publisher Richard Desmond in May. The American takeover, which is expected to receive final regulatory approval imminently, sparked speculation that it would look to put advertising sales out to tender.
But David Lynn, managing director of Viacom’s UK operations this weekend confirmed Channel 5’s advertising sales team will be retained.
Read the rest at Channel 4 and BSkyB disappointed as C5 rules out ad deal – Telegraph.
