Originally Posted by Karma_:
The fella from C5! He was in negotiations to buy the programme last year?
There have been varying stories about just how far the negotiations got (and whether or not they're ongoing). In particular, Private Eye carried a story a while back about how the initial talks fell through.
Basically, it sounds as if Endemol got cocky and went in assuming it was practically a done deal. As a result they asked (I believe) for pretty much the same money they got from C4. Richard Desmond, however, was having none of it. Not only did he offer a
lot less money, but demanded a clause by which Endemol would actually forfeit some of it if audience figures weren't good enough. Apparently Desmond's trying to include "payment by results" in a lot of C5 deals but it's an unusual and unpopular clause. [As a TV Executive said to Private Eye: "Why should producers have their payment withheld because C5 decides to schedule their programme against something like
X-Factor?"]
As if that wasn't bad enough, Desmond played up to thugish type: swearing at the Endemol execs, encouraging his
butler to swear at the Endemol execs
, and angrily thumping a glass down on a table so hard it shattered!
Endemol walked-away after that, but the reports that negotiations have continued recently suggest that they have finally realized what Desmond always knew: that they need C5 a lot more than C5 needs them. The rumour was that they'd agreed to the lower deal (I'm not sure about the "payment by results"), however we still don't appear to have a agreement...
Personally, the recent reports sound like politicking to me, but who knows?
.....would you like to join our foursome??........though lee has us playing with erm..pussies....
Yes meantime you're like the cat that got the cream 
Oh please god forbid,Mr L would be off the nest forever if that were the case,I'd enter a convent.
<not sure about the pussy though> 
Sprooooot!
