RTL, the owner of Channel 5, has cast further gloom over the European broadcasting sector by warning that advertising revenues are continuing to tumble.
And it is writing £1.4bn off the value of Pearson TV, which merged with TV group CLT UFA to create RTL last year, to reflect the deteriorating values in the European media sector.
The group, which is Europe's biggest commercial broadcaster, underlined the drought in the advertising market by announcing a dramatic fall in half-year earnings.
RTL said earnings before interest, tax and amortisation - or EBITA - fell from £202m to £148m as the advertising slump took hold.
Didier Bellens, the chief executive of the group, warned in July that earnings figures could fall by as much as 15% for the whole year, but today he said the decline could be even steeper.
"Since July, markets have continued to decline and visibility has not improved. The phasing of the recovery cannot therefore be predicted with certainty. Under current conditions, the decline in EBITA could therefore be greater than the level indicated in July," he said.
The write-off sent RTL into a pre-tax loss of £1.3bn for the first six months of the year, against a profit of £144m for the same period last year. Overall revenues rose by 3% to £1.26bn.
RTL said it had postponed plans to float more company shares on the stock market, despite assurances that the move would happen before September this year.
The London-listed group has placed 10% of its shares on the market, but must raise that figure to 15% if it is to gain access to the flagship FTSE 100 list.
However, RTL will not release more shares into a market that has turned against the media sector due to the advertising recession in the US and Europe.
"Because of the low forward visibility in the advertising markets, the board of directors has decided to postpone an equity issue by RTL Group as originally proposed last year. It remains the intention to increase RTL's free float to not less than 15%," said Mr Bellens.
RTL owns 24 TV channels 18 radio stations across Europe, including M6 in France and Vox in Germany, with Channel 5 its major UK interest.
Senior Channel 5 executives have admitted RTL is frustrated with the operation, and the group is openly looking for strategic partners to boost the channel's reach.
RTL, which is controlled by German media giant Bertelsmann, said Channel 5 had held its 6.1% share of the advertising market over the past six months, and investment in programmes had risen by 17%.
