IS NBC GOING TO BUY MURDOCH’S STAKE IN ITV?

Shares in Britain’s ITV went on a roller-coaster ride on Friday, soaring 10 percent as word spread that NBC was planning to buy the 7.5 percent stake that News Corp’s BSkyB holds in the commercial broadcaster. But shares in the company quickly headed downwards after one analyst, Alex DeGroote of Panmure Gordon, expressed skepticism, saying, “Given NBC is itself the subject of a Comcast takeover, it seems unlikely to be interested in ITV. Additionally, the bias of both NBC and Comcast is the US, and cable TV, rather than mainstream commercial TV.”