Richard Desmond, the media mogul behind titles such as OK! Magazine, the Daily Express and Asian Babes, is set to announce this afternoon that his £100m bid to take ownership of channel Five has been successful.

Desmond is said to be keen to use the medium to schedule an increased output of reality and celebrity shows, potentially with Big Brother as its flagship.

Channel 4 paid £80m to Endemol for the right to broadcast the programme, but the current series will be its last after the show was hit by falling ratings. By negotiating a cut price deal and tying up with his tabloid media empire however Desmond believes he can make the formula work.

A downturn in advertising revenues has knocked Five for six in recent years, forcing owners RTL to write down the channels value from £500m as recently as 2007.