ITV eyes up Virgin as TV broadcasters invest in radio

LONDON - ITV could be about to buy Virgin Radio, owned by the Scottish Media Group, after raising over £200m from the sale of its non-core assets.

SMG currently owns the Scottish and Grampian TV franchises, two of the four regional licences not owned by ITV, plus the Pearl & Dean cinema advertising business and the sought-after Virgin radio business.

ITV, which currently has no radio investments, has made over £200m in the last few months from selling off non-core assets after the Carlton/Granada merger.

Last week, the network sold the Moving Picture Company, the special effects firm behind films such as 'Troy' and 'Harry Potter', to Technicolour, part of the French technology company Thomson, for £53m.

ITV's sale process began in September when it disposed of Carlton Books for £3m. Later that month, the network sold its 5.5% stake in Thomson to Citigroup and UBS for £162m.

ITV is also considering selling Carlton Screen Advertising, its 10% shareholding in Premiership football clubs Liverpool and Arsenal, and its stake in Australia's Seven Network.

In total, ITV's non-core assets have been valued at £550m.

It is believed that SMG would be able to ask for around £160m for Virgin.

SMG continues to insist Virgin is not for sale, but after the Capital/GWR merger earlier this year, consolidating radio groups has become one of the hottest topics.

Media giant Emap is reported to be putting together a bid for the Glasgow-based SRH, and Chrysalis, which owns Heart FM, and Emap have expressed an interest in Virgin.

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