Why did BSkyB buy a stake in ITV?
BSkyB said it saw in ITV a lot of potential to make money for shareholders – hoping to help turn around the troubled broadcaster. However, few believed that the motive of BSkyB and its chief executive James Murdoch was as simple as this. The theory carrying most credence is that BSkyB wanted to scupper a tie-up between ITV and NTL – in what BBC Business Editor Robert Peston described as “an astonishing spoiling tactic”. In a world moving increasingly towards cable and broadband – rather than satellite – BSkyB may well have seen a real threat in an ITV/NTL partnership. BSkyB’s James Murdoch believes ITV is a good investment The satellite broadcaster may also have been worried that together ITV and NTL would have been able to pitch for lucrative contracts on which BSkyB depends to keep its viewers – most notably Premiership football. By buying just under 18% of ITV, it has seized enough ground to make it hard for NTL to continue its takeover plans – while at the same time not falling fou
