Virgin Media is expected to begin the sale of its content division, said to be worth about £500m, within weeks.
Interested parties are thought to include BSkyB, NBC Universal, RTL Group, several private equity groups and Channel 4. The content assets were put up for sale in 2005 and bids were placed for about £1bn.
The sale of the content operation is complicated by Lord Carter's Digital Britain review, which has suggested Channel 4 should look for possible synergies with BBC Worldwide to solve its funding crisis. It is understood the broadcaster is in talks with BBC Worldwide about possibly taking on certain sales contracts from IDS to beef up its scale, price and power in the market.
It is also thought that, should a Channel 4 and IDS deal come to fruition, the appeal of Virgin Media's content division to the likes of BSkyB and RTL Group would drop, potentially eliminating these companies from the sale and affecting the price tag of Virgin's content division.
A TV executive close to Virgin said: "Two years ago, Virgin took a strategic decision to exit the content business, but it has been delayed several times. But now it is likely it will issue an information memorandum to the market after its board meeting in March."
Virgin Media, Channel 4, BSkyB, IDS and BBC Worldwide declined to comment. RTL Group was unavailable for comment.
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