The sale of UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 5 has taken on a new twist with the possible flotation of the Richard Desmond company.
The media boss, whose interests also include Express Newspapers, has invited investment bankers from Goldman Sachs to assess a possible listing. Details of the move were obtained by Sky News, whose parent company BSkyB was with Discovery Channel one of the bidders for the fifth terrestrial channel.
Also among the 20 bidders for the broadcaster are Scripps, the owner of UKTV, and Viacom.
It has been estimated that an outright sake of Channel 5 could net £700 million.
Channel 5 screens Big Brother, which along with highlights of The Ashes cricket last year eclipsed Channel 4 audiences for the first time.