Marrying brands like Big Brother and Heat that thrive off each other and FHM with C4's youthful audience seems perfectly sensible, even if it further confuses C4's future role - as a PSB rival to the BBC, or a nakedly commercial, increasingly populist player.
But then who could have envisaged an alliance of the BBC, that bastion of British tradition, with the US new media giant, Microsoft? That was even more revolutionary than the BBC hopping into bed with Flextech to monetise the value of its content archive through the creation of the ad-funded UKTV.
The fact is that these once improbable partnerships are going to be increasingly the norm and will join together traditional media rivals - Sky and C4 may well partner in a bid for the new digital radio multiplex - as well as old and new media players.
While some companies continue to pursue their digital future organically, or through acquisitions, the attraction of joint ventures is that they are less risky, require less investment, don't usually need shareholder approval and hence can get new initiatives to market faster - key to success in a rapidly evolving digital environment. Each party brings its own strategic competence, sharing management creativity and marketing expertise and can utilise each other's platforms.
Some of these benefits can be achieved through more formal arrangements. In the last week we have seen The National Magazine Company purchase Handbag.com, providing it with much-needed online acumen in a complementary market to its women's titles, and News International buy Milkround.com, enhancing the recruitment offer of its Times papers.
Yet the benefits of some expensive media acquisitions have been slow to emerge. The expected digital boost of AOL to IPC's print brands has, so far, failed to materialise. Although early days, there are doubts over what substantial added value can be created from ITV's takeover of Friends Reunited.
And, unlike joint ventures, if the marriage doesn't work, they can't easily be divorced.
- Colin Grimshaw is acting editor of Media Week.
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