The last few days has seen increased media speculation as to who the new owner of Channel 5 Broadcasting may be. Five has been linked with Time Warner, Channel 4 and Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother and other reality and TV game shows.
At the moment it’s looking like Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and OK! magazine, is likely to be the successful party. It’s rumoured that he will be imminently tabling a £100 million bid for the struggling broadcaster.
For me there is a rich irony about the possibility of Five becoming part of the Desmond publishing empire and let me explain why. In its early days Five had a reputation for broadcasting obscure daytime soaps and in the late 90s moving towards more risqué adult-themed entertainment shows. More recently the channel has become the coverage home of second-tier European football competitions, imported cult US television dramas and lifestyle television.
The parallel with Desmond is that in the archives of his publishing empire were certain top-shelf titles such as Penthouse, amongst others. He has moved his publishing empire into more respectable mainstream titles such as the Daily Express and OK!. However, television is not a new medium for Desmond – he already owns Portland Media, producer of Television X and Red Hot TV, which are both throwbacks to his adult media days.
Thus will Five under Desmond’s ownership become the spiritual television home of the cult of celebrity, as per OK! magazine, with thousands of viewers who deny they watch such celebrity tittle tattle just like they deny they buy OK!? And could this foray into mainstream television lead to Desmond’s divestiture of adult television channels as happened with his adult magazines?