British broadcaster ITV has said it 'looks forward' to talks with pay-TV company BSkyB following its acquisition of a 17.9% stake late on Friday.
In a statement, ITV said BSkyB had confirmed that it had no intention of bringing its stake above 19.9% or of making an offer for the whole of ITV.
BSkyB said in a statement on Friday that it acquired 696 million ITV shares at 135p each - a 16.6% premium to ITV's closing share price of 115.75p. At 135p a share, ITV is valued at around £5.16 billion.
British cable operator NTL has already said it has approached ITV about combining the two companies.
Shares in ITV climbed earlier on Friday after a report that RTL Group, Europe's biggest commercial broadcaster, might team up with private equity firms to bid. The Financial Times said RTL was working on a possible offer for ITV worth £5 billion plus.
'BSkyB wishes to explore options to create value in the interests of both BSkyB's and ITV's shareholders,' it said in a statement. BSkyB said it intended to be a supportive shareholder and said it did not intend its stake in ITV to exceed 19.9% or to make a full offer for the company.
The share dealing by BSkyB, which emerged after the market closed for trading on Friday, was described by Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson as a 'blatant attempt to distort competition'.
He is an 11% shareholder in NTL after the cable operator bought his Virgin Mobile business earlier this year. The new entity - set to be called Virgin Media from next year - revealed two weeks ago that it wanted to talk to ITV about a possible business combination.
Branson called for an Office of Fair Trading investigation and urged regulators and politicians to 'stand up to reckless and cynical attempts to stifle competition and secure creeping control of the British media'.
