Former ITV chief executive and current Global Radio chairman Charles Allen has joined the board of Endemol after becoming a senior adviser to the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, which has a stake in the firm.

During his tenure at ITV, Allen fought off a 130p per share bid for the broadcaster from a consortium that included Goldman along with Apax and Blackstone. This morning, ITV's shares are trading at 43.4p and it is expected that it will fall out of the FTSE 100 index when it is re-rated tomorrow.

According to the Financial Times, the appointment has reignited speculation that Endemol could make a bid for ITV. Such rumours last circulated in July when Endemol co-founder John De Mol suggested that a tie-up "could make sense". However, the paper added that Endemol's debt position - believed to now be over €2.5bn - would make a bid for ITV as a whole difficult to achieve.