Shares in ITV fell as much as 7.2 per cent in early trade yesterday as hopes of a bid for the country's biggest commercial broadcaster faded after Friday's swoop by pay-TV group BSkyB.

BSkyB said on Friday it had purchased a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV, which most analysts interpreted as a blocking move to prevent anyone from making a bid for the company.

Shares in Briton's biggest commercial broadcaster had rallied earlier this month after BSkyB's rival cable operator NTL said it had approached ITV about combining the two companies.

Analysts say that deal would now be much harder. At 8:12 a.m., ITV shares had made a slight recovery, but were still down 4.8 per cent at 111 pence.

Shares in BSkyB, 39-per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, were down 1.9 per cent at 525 pence at 8:05 a.m.

BSkyB announced its 9£40-million raid on Friday to buy a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV at 135 pence a share.

Richard Branson, NTL's biggest shareholder, has called for the Office of Fair Trading to force BSkyB to sell its stake in ITV, arguing its move would be bad for competition.

BSkyB said its investment in ITV did not enable it to exercise a material influence over ITV's policy and operations.

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