Darroch set to slate ITV sale decision

Jeremy Darroch, CEO of UK pay-TV operator BSkyB is expected to criticise the court of appeal’s ruling that it must reduce its stake in commercial broadcaster ITV during its half-year results next Thursday, according to the Telegraph newspaper.

Last week it was reported that BSkyB is considering a quick sale of its 17.9% stake in ITV after the court ruled that the operator must reduce its stake to below 7.5%, leaving Sky facing a loss of hundreds of millions of pounds. The broadcaster has four weeks to consider an appeal to the supreme court.
Darroch will likely attack the decision next Thursday, when he is expected to report an increase in revenues to £2.85bn (€3.2bn) from £2.6bn a year earlier, according to the Telegraph.

Separately, Sky plans to lay-off about 30 commercial staff following the integration of its advertising arm Sky Media with Viacom’s ad-sales business. In November, the operator signed a £375m, five-year deal to sell ad airtime for Viacom’s UK channels and the integrated outfit’s team of 250 staff is to be reduced by about 30, the Guardian reports.