LONDON (ShareCast) - M&A activity and bid speculation gave UK-listed media stocks a boost on Thursday, with the sector topping the risers list in London this afternoon.

British Sky Broadcasting, which is currently considering a giant European consolidation with acquisitions of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, has sold a 6.4% stake in broadcaster ITV to US-based Liberty Global for £481m.

The move puts ITV in play as a takeover target, according to analysts, although Liberty has said it does not intend to make a bid, which implies a six-month moratorium under takeover rules.

ITV shares were up over 7% at 196.8p by 14:03, having jumped as much as 10% earlier on.

Will Hedden, Premium Client Manager at IG, said today's deal reflects the "evolution of the TV market", in which providers are taking direct control of content to reduce their reliance of ad revenues.

It is thought that ITV could be attractive to potential bidders as it provides access to a growing library of content via its ITV Studios business, plus customers, strong branding and financial engineering.

Hedden said: "The prospect for a potential future takeover is there, even if the rulebook says it won't be imminent. ITV shareholders have had to sit through a fall in the share price the last few months after years of solid gains, but this has sent the stock straight back towards £2 and this could entice traders in, as events in the sector should support some bid premium staying in the stock."

Meanwhile, sentiment in the media sector was also boosted by the news yesterday that Time Warner rejected an $80bn takeover bid by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox in June.

Time Warner released a statement saying that the deal created "significant risk and uncertainty" on the valuation of Fox's non-voting stock and its ability to govern and manage a combination of the size and scale of a merged company.

Fox confirmed it had made an approach but said it was no longer in talks with Time Walker, making it unclear on whether a second bid would be launched.

Other stocks in the UK media sector were making decent gains today including Trinity Mirror, UTV Media, STV Group, Cello Group and Perform Group.



Top performing sectors so far today
Tobacco 40,353.32 +1.27%
Media 6,071.62 +0.84%
Food Producers & Processors 7,739.67 +0.11%
Industrial Engineering 10,366.08 +0.08%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,776.08 +0.04%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 1,226.22 -2.96%
Forestry & Paper 11,159.13 -1.99%
General Industrials 4,057.46 -1.82%
Electricity 9,781.37 -1.39%
Automobiles & Parts 8,295.46 -1.36%

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