However, he kept the possibility of a future bid open. Redstone told the annual Royal Television Society dinner last night: "We have no plans for an acquisition of ITV or any other UK broadcasting asset -- at the moment. But we will continue to monitor developments very closely."
He told the audience: "As they say in our business, stay tuned."
During the same speech, Redstone welcomed deregulation of the UK media ownership rules, and said that he thought that US media should also be open to the UK. "I believe in reciprocity. If we can own you, you can own us."
Redstone had met with prime minister Tony Blair earlier in the day, and told the society he had congratulated him on his policy. "Viacom's a big proponent of deregulation in the US, and our experience is that audiences and broadcasting producers, programmers and distributors benefit from deregulation."
In previous interviews, Redstone has said he is interested in acquiring ITV, a move that would now be possible with the merger of Carlton Communications and Granada on the cards. However, he has also said he is wary of paying too high a price for the broadcaster.
During last night's speech, Redstone said he was confident that Mel Karmazin would stay on as president and chief operating officer, after speculation he would leave. He also ruled out a bid for the music company EMI.
Viacom's media assets include the music channels MTV and VH1; the Blockbuster video rental chain; UCI cinemas; and other television channels such as Nickelodeon and the Paramount Comedy Channel.
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