[JMT1985]

I believe they couldn't find a buyer - television in Ireland now is simply not profitable - remember Ireland has a small population of just over 5 million and even their state broadcaster RTE can't survive on the licence fee alone, as RTE is allowed to have commercial advertising and sponsorship, although the amount they can have is more limited than say on Virgin Media One.

So I bet they feel best to make the most of what they got.

[JAS84]

So break it up? Sell the TV channels to one company, then take the mobile operation and either do that joint venture or sell it off separately.

[ASnep]

There also is the slim chance of Liberty buying Vodafone or Three. That's what they did in Switzerland, after the deal to sell UPC Switzerland to mobile phone operator Sunrise fell through, they bought Sunrise instead.

[Kojak]

I believe they couldn't find a buyer - television in Ireland now is simply not profitable - remember Ireland has a small population of just over 5 million and even their state broadcaster RTE can't survive on the licence fee alone, as RTE is allowed to have commercial advertising and sponsorship, although the amount they can have is more limited than say on Virgin Media One.

So I bet they feel best to make the most of what they got.

Theoretically, is it possible that RTE could buy VM's channels? Not that they would have the money or inclination to do so - but rather, is it legal?

[Roger Darthwell]

I believe they couldn't find a buyer - television in Ireland now is simply not profitable - remember Ireland has a small population of just over 5 million and even their state broadcaster RTE can't survive on the licence fee alone, as RTE is allowed to have commercial advertising and sponsorship, although the amount they can have is more limited than say on Virgin Media One.

So I bet they feel best to make the most of what they got.

Theoretically, is it possible that RTE could buy VM's channels? Not that they would have the money or inclination to do so - but rather, is it legal?

I think that is way too extreme as an option, it would be like the BBC buying ITV

[Brekkie]

I'd imagine it's as likely as the BBC buying ITV.

Small countries can sustain commercial and public service broadcasters but often those commercial stations are in foreign ownership.

[JMT1985]

I believe they couldn't find a buyer - television in Ireland now is simply not profitable - remember Ireland has a small population of just over 5 million and even their state broadcaster RTE can't survive on the licence fee alone, as RTE is allowed to have commercial advertising and sponsorship, although the amount they can have is more limited than say on Virgin Media One.

So I bet they feel best to make the most of what they got.

Theoretically, is it possible that RTE could buy VM's channels? Not that they would have the money or inclination to do so - but rather, is it legal?

Not legal - RTE is a semi-state company, and a semi-state company purchasing a fully independent company is going to the extreme - the whole point of the original TV3 launching was to give proper competition to RTE who had been complacent for decades, and receiving all the commercial TV advert funding to themselves, whilst still receiving the licence fee income.

[Rdd]

Yeah, pretty much.

The ideal buyer for the TV side would in fact be ITV, since they effectively provide it with about 80% of its programmes between programmes actually part of the ITV Studios deal and other ITV commissions they’ve bought separately. But they actually had a stake in it in the past and multiple opportunities to buy and never did.

[JMT1985]

Yeah, pretty much.

The ideal buyer for the TV side would in fact be ITV, since they effectively provide it with about 80% of its programmes between programmes actually part of the ITV Studios deal and other ITV commissions they’ve bought separately. But they actually had a stake in it in the past and multiple opportunities to buy and never did.

Granada was the original stake holder in TV3 from the turn of the millennium, which saw Coronation Street and Emmerdale leave RTE and move over to TV3 which was apparently big news in Irish media back in the year 2000

[JAS84]

VM3 used to be UTV Ireland, the failure of which led to it being sold to TV3 and UTV itself being taken over by ITV plc. So if ITV was to buy VMTV, they'd be buying back a channel that they previously disposed of!