ITN could be set to provide Channel 5’s news content again after the broadcaster reportedly agreed a deal to cancel its contract with Sky News.
According to The Guardian, Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond has been in talks with Sky News about ending its £9m-a-year contract for more than a year, and his company Northern & Shell is now ‘in the final stages of discussions over a new deal’with ITN.
The current contract is not due to expire until 2012.The Guardian reports:
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The mogul, who bought Channel 5 for £103.5m in July 2010, has looked to cut costs at the broadcaster and increase its coverage of celebrity news, as part of a cross-promotion strategy with his stable of newspapers and magazines.
Northern & Shell indicated in November last year that it wanted to wriggle out of its contract with Sky News, which has produced 5 News since 2005, but executives were put off by the prospect of having to pay a hefty cancellation fee.
Now, however, the two sides are thought to have agreed to a mutual termination of the deal that will not involve Sky receiving any compensation.
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