The Financial Times reports that Bob Wright, chairman and chief executive of NBC, travelled to London last week to look at potential acquisitions.
Viacom president and chief operating officer Mel Karmazin is also reported to be interested in acquiring UK media assets. Viacom already owns MTV and Nickelodeon, both of which are broadcast in the UK. The Walt Disney Company is also believed to be interested.
The draft communications bill, unveiled last month, will change the rules that prevent foreign companies from owning UK television and radio stations.
Carlton Communications and Granada, the ITV companies that have already looked at merging, are believed to be prime targets for foreign acquisition, causing the share price of both companies to rise. However, according to Viacom's Karmazin: "The stocks of all these companies have run up on the basis that an American media company will buy them. We don't need anything out there enough to overpay."
AOL Time Warner, the world's largest media company, has ruled itself out of any deals for the present. "We're not in a position of doing anything right now in the acquisition area," Wayne Pace, chief financial officer, told the FT.
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