ITV could sell SDN

ITV is said to be considering the sale of its DTT transmission business SDN as the commercial broadcaster looks to shore up its balance sheet.

SDN was purchased in April 2005 for £134 million from a consortium of United Business Media and S4C. NTL Broadcast, which later became part of Arqiva, was also a shareholder.

As the operator of Multiplex A, SDN is responsible for the carriage of channels on the Freeview platform including Five, QVC, CNN. It also provides capacity for the Top Up TV pay operation.

Arqiva is typically in the frame as a potential buyer, though there may be competition concerns, following the acquisition of National Grid Wireless.

Last week Arqiva purchased ITV’s interest in spectrum management company JFMG.