Channel 5 owner to give CNBC interview

CNBC, the business and financial news broadcaster, has announced that Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond is to become the next interviewee on its CNBC Meets... series.

Desmond is the billionaire media tycoon behind Northern & Shell, which owns a variety of publications such as the Daily Star, Daily Express and OK magazine, as well as Portland TV - home of adult TV channels Television X and Red Hot.

His public profile increased considerably last summer when he paid £103.5 million to acquire the loss-making Channel 5 from European broadcasting giant RTL.

On June 15 at 10pm, CNBC will air a rare television interview with Desmond, in which he will discuss his childhood, early business career and how he managed to become one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs, with an estimated net worth of £950m.

Presented by Tania Bryer, the programme will be filmed on location at the Manor House pub in North London where Desmond worked as a cloakroom boy, and at his first ever offices in London's Covent Garden. The programme will also feature Northern & Shell's printing plant and The Richard Desmond Children's Eye Centre at Moorfields Hospital.

Desmond will discuss the forthcoming autumn launch of his new Health Lottery, which aims to raise "a minimum of £50 million a year" for health charities around the UK.

Contributions to the programme will come from the billionaire's celebrity friends, such as Roger Daltrey and Simon Cowell.