Channel 4 executives and representatives from Five shareholders United Business Media (UBM) and RTL are set to hold further talks about a possible merger before the summer.
Channel 4 executives and representatives from Five shareholders United Business Media (UBM) and RTL are set to hold further talks about a possible merger before the summer.

A Five source told Broadcast the two sides plan to sit down again "in the next few months" to move the discussion forward quickly. UBM and RTL want to work out whether merging Five with C4 is feasible as they are keen to bolster their sales offering in the face of a single ITV by merging with another player.

However, UBM and RTL do not want to align Five's sales house with another broadcaster if a wider merger would work out better.

"You don't want to hook up on a sales deal with someone if you later realise it would be better to do a broadcast deal with someone else," said a shareholder source.

While a full-scale merger would require a major regulatory process, joining the two channels' sales houses is allowed under the Communications Act.

Five is also in discussions with other potential partners, believed to include Flextech and BSkyB.