News of NTL's tentative bid for ITV prompted a loud and collective guffaw in the next day's papers: "Wedding of the year for ITV? You couldn't make it up!" (Daily Telegraph, 10/11), "A marriage made in NT 'hell'" (Daily Mail, 10/11), "NTL's TV ambitions spark hilarity" (www.zdnet.co.uk, 10/11). "What on earth is NTL thinking of?" demanded the Guardian (10/11). Given NTL's merger indigestion, junk credit rating, and ITV's ongoing search for a CEO and falling advertising revenues, the proposed merger was seen as "two drunks hunched up against each other for support" (Daily Telegraph, 11/11). Even Richard Branson's backing for the bid did not swing opinion: "It's a terrible concept on almost every level …and thoroughly deserves to fail" blasted The Independent (11/11).

But opinion softened over the weekend, as NTL announced it would raise the £5bn cash ITV was looking for, and line up former Channel 4 boss Michael Jackson to run ITV. "NTL and ITV: odd couple or streetwise?" asked the Observer (12/11): "Not that loony" admitted the Daily Telegraph (12/11), as it digested the merger's ramifications. With rival bidders poised to enter the fray, NTL's bid has all the makings of a good drama, albeit one ITV would perhaps prefer not to star in.