Channel 5 Possible Up For Sale?

But it's not al about being classed as respectable, the last series of Celebrity Big Brother bought in healthy ratings, ie revenue from advertisers.

Yes that is true, a brand that's not respectable can still be valuable, but in this context I completely agree that Channel 5 and BT are not the best brand fit for each other.

I can't see anyone changing the name to fit their brand given that it would make the channel much more difficult to sell.

Indeed. For all the derided reputation that the station has had since (and even before) its launch, at least having a name that sounds like "the fifth overall channel" gives some degree of prominence.

If, say, the previous owners had renamed it as "RTL 1" (and Fife Life as "RTL 2", and Five USA as "RTL 3"), then that sort of branding would seem like just another forgettable obscure digital niche channel sort of an identity, and thus be lost amongst the multi-channel crowd (despite still occupying the fifth overall LCN/ EPG position).

Therefore, it would surely be most wise to always retain some sort of "Five"/"Channel 5" (or similar) type of name.

Agreed, one of the selling points is that it is one of the PSB channels, with automatic rights to DTT spectrum and EPG positioning.

Changing the name doesn't alter that commitment, but it would make people think it was another channel that merged into the plethora of other services available.

When RTL owned the channel, the didn't call it 'RTL5', so there is no reason to think BT, NBCU, Discovery or Sky would want a similarly constructed rebrand.

If the government ever sold C4, I couldn't imagine a purchaser calling the channels anything else other than by their current names.

There could be more flexibility with the names of the various extra services such as 5*, More4, and so on. But not with the primary channels.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/26/itv-profits-channel-5-bid?CMP=twt_gu

Disappointing news.

Why?

Hence why they might want to keep it as C5 rather than BT5, but they can use their logo so it's linked in some way.

I think it would be foolish for ITV not to even consider Channel 5, but they have obviously looked at it and ruled against bidding.

Judging by their results, they don't need it, especially at its over-inflated price.

ITV should have been a contender for Channel 5. Now it's going BT's direction.