Possible buyers circle Sky ITV stake

A number of media companies and private equity investors are circling BSkyB’s stake in British commercial broadcaster ITV. This follows yesterday’s decision by the Court of Appeal that the News Corp.-backed pay operator must reduce its stake in ITV from 17.9% to below 7.5%.

Companies including Italy’s Mediaset and private equity investor Blackstone have reportedly approached BSkyB. Germany’s RTL is also rumoured to be interested, although it’s not clear whether it has approached BSkyB yet. BSkyB is expected to offload its entire stake in the network and a deal is due in the next couple of months.