ITV is in trouble. NTL is in trouble. Both have complimentary business strategies (don't laugh). So on paper at least, an ITV/NTL merger makes a great deal of sense, if only to prop each other up until one or the other is making money again.
But there's another good reason for an ITV/NTL gettogether that is less than immediately obvious; the future of the UKTV channels.
These are run as a joint venture between the BBC and Flextech - the latter is now part of NTL - so bringing ITV on board could potentially save money for the UKTV channels by effectively making them a BBC/ITV venture.
Next year the recently merged NTL/Telewest is rebranding itself as Virgin Media, though it's unlikely that the ITV brand would ever be used for cable services or alternatively ITV rebranding as Virgin if there ever was an NTL/ITV merger (but could still happen if things get desperate).
Of course all of this remains in the realm of pure speculation, but there's no smoke without a small amount of fire, and such a move could potentially solve several problems possibly including the ongoing saga of finding someone brave enough to become chief executive of ITV plc.
And that in itself could be enough.
