Speaking today at a conference to debate the communications bill, Bob Wootton, director of media and advertising affairs at ISBA, said that he did not want to see a merged sales house, but would prefer to see the two remain separate.
"Grasping at straws, I prefer the latter [of the two options]," he said.
The conference also debated the different objectives for pushing through the merger of ITV. Wootton said that for the two chairman of Carlton and Granada, Michael Green and Charles Allen respectively, the merger would serve as an escape route out of ITV for both of them.
"The ITV merger is entirely about onward sale," Wootton said. "Granada is Carlton's white knight and [combined] their white knight is a foreign company."
Numis Securities media analyst Lorna Tilbian said that Carlton is far the weaker of the two ITV companies, in terms of content, advertising and its balance sheet, because it is in large amounts of debt.
However, most felt that the takeover of ITV by a US company unlikely for a few years because no companies are in a fit state to buy it.
AOL Time Warner is fending off negative speculation about its merger, fuelled by a 50% collapse in advertising and commerce revenues at its America Online ISP. Disney, another contender, is thought likely to want to concentrate on its leisure parks, and Viacom -- seen as the most likely buyer -- could be equally interested in buying into UK radio.
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