In a spate of sales, acquisitions and launches, Five’s HD channel has launched on Virgin Media, bringing the number of Five channels appropriately up to five. The launch comes in the wake of news that Five is up for sale, and on the day BSkyB completes its acquisition of Virgin Media Television.
The HD version of Five will broadcast a simulcast of Five’s schedule, including US TV dramas, plus Neighbours and Home and Away, and is available to the 3.7 million Virgin Media, customers free from today. It was announced for Sky back at the end of March this year, due to arrive in summer.
At the same time, Five‘s terrestrial channel has been brought to its knees by poor viewing figures, and posted massive losses of £37 million last year. It’s now up for sale, with a number of high profile media companies interested. Currently reported to be interested are Endemol, Murdoch’s BSkyB, Time Warner, and ITV, among others.
Media pundit Roy Greenslade notes that the channel is valued at £95 million, “but is sure to go for much more than that, probably £250 million”. Whether a buyer would be able to turn Five’s fortunes around is another question.
Five’s audience was poor last year too. it had a 4.9 per cent share of viewers, compared to BBC1’s 20.9 per cent share, and Channel 4’s 6.8 per cent. It also pulled out of Project Canvas at the end of last week, although it will still provide content for the project.
