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MEDIA HEADLINER: RTL's chief executive plans a European style for UK media.(Brief Article)
Alasdair Reid investigates what Bellens is keen to do with RTL's holdings in Five.
You can't really blame Didier Bellens, RTL's chief executive, for feeling perplexed at the way the 'Dawn Airey in shock defection to Sky' story was covered last week in the UK press.
Everyone at RTL and its UK subsidiary, Channel 5, was amused at the fact that ITV was seen as the biggest loser in the Dawn affair, but rather less than amused at the widespread assumption that RTL would now throw in the towel and retreat from the UK market. Many commentators argued that it was indeed only a matter of time before Rupert Murdoch moves to acquire Channel 5 - or as it now wishes to be known, Five.
Hadn't anyone listened to Bellens' Royal Television Society speech a few weeks back? Clearly not. So, for those of us who are hard of hearing, read his lips: RTL does not intend to sell its 65 per cent stake in Channel 5.
True, it does not intend to buy out its minority shareholder, United Business Media, preferring, according to Bellens, to divert all available resources towards programming.
And, yes, it is true that UBM is perhaps keen to sell up; and, indeed, Murdoch is a possible purchaser.
But that's where the line is drawn. RTL does not intend ceding one iota of control. And in any case it has bad memories of a previous joint venture with Murdoch in the German market.
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