ltd type limited company founded december 1974 founder richard desmond headquarters city of london united kingdom services publishing and television owner richard desmond subsidiaries express newspapers portland tv website www.northernandshell.co.uk the northern & shell building in front of tower 42 with 20 fenchurch street under construction in august 2012 . northern & shell holding company name northern and shell network ltd is a british publishing group launched and founded in december 1974 and currently owned by richard desmond . it publishes the daily express sunday express daily star and daily star sunday and the magazines ok and new star . northern & shell also owned three entertainment television channels channel 5 5 and 5usa until 2015 . it owned portland tv 1 which operates adult tv channels including television x and red hot tv ; the company sold portland in april 2016 . 2 history edit desmond founded northern and shell in 1974 and launched a magazine called international musician and recording world . in 1983 northern and shell obtained the licence to publish penthouse in the united kingdom which led to its publishing a range of adult titles 3 asian babes among them . 4 5 these titles were later sold in 2004 . it was the first company to move to the revamped docklands and the princess royal opened the offices . when the company moved to the northern & shell tower prince philip opened the offices . northern & shell also publishes a wide range of magazines including the celebrity weekly ok started as a monthly in 1993 . in november 2000 northern & shell acquired express newspapers from united news & media for 125m . 6 enlarging the group to include the daily and sunday express titles the daily star and daily star sunday which desmond started and the irish star owned jointly with the irish independent group . the daily and sunday express each sell around 700 000 copies per issue . 7 northern & shell had borrowed 97 million approximately us 190 million for the express group purchase . northern & shell s portfolio of soft porn magazines was offered for sale in 2001 in order to provide cash to invest in the then newly acquired express newspapers group . some viewed the sale as an attempt to distance the company from the pornography business but most analysts believed it to be only a financial move as the fantasy channel northern and shell s adult cable channel wasn t included in the sale . 8 in 2004 northern & shell sought acquisition of additional publications the spectator and the daily telegraph along with its sister publication the sunday telegraph . it was unsuccessful in its bid for the telegraph losing out to david and frederick barclay who had long sought to own the paper . 9 on 23 july 2010 northern & shell bought channel 5 broadcasting limited which operates channel 5 5 and 5usa for 125 million 103.5 million from the rtl group . 10 on 1 may 2014 the channels were sold to viacom for 450 million us 759 million . 11 in 2013 northern & shell announced that its tv listing magazine tv pick would no longer be published . 12 in 2014 northern & shell invested in a series of startups under the brand northern & shell ventures . 13 this included investments in openrent tepilo and lulu . 14 15 references edit portland tv . portland tv . retrieved 2013 06 26 . richard desmond sells adult tv channels for less than 1m . campaign . campaign live . retrieved 2016 08 31 . about northern & shell . northern and shell . n & s network . retrieved 2006 12 22 . jane arthurs jean grimshaw women s bodies discipline and transgression continuum international publishing group 1999 isbn 0 304 33963 6 pp. 191 192 clarissa smith one for the girls the pleasures and practices of reading women s porn european communication research and education association series intellect books 2007 isbn 1 84150 164 6 p. 57 jorn madslien 12 february 2006 . profile richard desmond . bbc . abc circulation figures . audit bureau of circulations . retrieved 2009 02 04 . december 2008 desmond to sell adult titles . bbc news online business . bbc . 2001 01 11 . retrieved 2006 12 22 . ben richardson 2004 06 23 . does the telegraph bid add up . bbc news online analysis . bbc . retrieved 2006 12 22 . rtl group sells uk broadcaster five press release . rtl group . 23 july 2010 . retrieved 24 july 2010 . viacom to buy channel 5 for 450m . bbc news . 1 may 2014 . retrieved 1 may 2014 . desmond s tv pick closes after 22 issues . the guardian . 29 july 2014 . retrieved 4 july 2015 . northern & shell ventures . steve o hear . online renting service openrent scores media for equity deal from northern & shell ventures . techcrunch . richard desmond google are gangsters but wear fantastic sweaters . external links edit official website v t e northern & shell publications current daily express sunday express daily star daily star sunday ok star new former asian babes international musician and recording world television assets portland tv television x redhot gaytv other the health lottery people richard desmond category v t e express newspapers daily express editors 1900 arthur pearson 1901 fletcher robinson 1909 r. d. blumenfeld 1929 beverley baxter 1933 arthur christiansen 1957 edward pickering 1961 bob edwards 1962 roger wood 1963 bob edwards 1965 derek marks 1971 ian mccoll 1974 alastair burnet 1976 roy wright 1977 derek jameson 1980 arthur firth 1981 christopher ward 1983 larry lamb 1986 nicholas lloyd 1995 richard addis 1998 rosie boycott 2001 chris williams 2003 peter hill 2011 hugh whittow sunday express editors 1920 james douglas 1928 james douglas and john gordon 1931 john gordon 1952 harold keeble 1954 john junor 1986 robin esser 1989 robin morgan 1991 eve pollard 1994 brian hitchen 1995 sue douglas 1996 richard addis 1998 amanda platell 1999 michael pilgrim 2001 martin townsend other topics daily express building london daily express building manchester northern & shell richard desmond rupert bear sunday express dunblane controversy the sunday express book of the year v t e media in the united kingdom newspapers magazines and other periodicals newspapers history national berliner the guardian the observer broadsheet financial times the daily telegraph the sunday telegraph the sunday times compact i the times middle market daily express daily mail the mail on sunday tabloid daily mirror sunday mirror morning star the sunday people daily star daily star sunday the sun sunday sport magazines and other periodicals list of magazines by circulation radio national stations bbc analogue digital radio 1 radio 2 radio 3 radio 4 radio 5 live digital radio 1xtra radio 4 extra radio 5 live sports extra radio 6 music asian network bbc national dab multiplex commercial analogue digital absolute radio classic fm talksport digital absolute 80s absolute radio 90s absolute radio extra amazing radio bfbs radio digital one multiplex jazz fm planet rock premier christian radio sound digital multiplex smooth radio uk ucb uk regional and local stations bbc list of bbc local radio stations list of bbc regional radio stations commercial list of community radio stations list of local commercial radio stations list of semi national analogue and digital stations other stations list of hospital radio stations pirate radio restricted service licence list of rsl stations list of satellite radio stations list of student and schools radio other broadcasting house fm broadcasting the studios mediacityuk radio academy radio academy awards radio independents group rajar most listened to programs television principal channels list bbc bbc one bbc two bbc four bbc news bbc parliament cbbc cbeebies channel four channel 4 e4 film4 more4 4seven channel 5 channel 5 5star 5 usa spike itv itv stv utv itv2 itv3 itv4 citv itv encore itvbe sky challenge pick real lives sky 1 sky 2 sky arts sky atlantic sky cinema sky cinema box office sky living sky news sky sports sky sports f1 sky sports news hq uktv alibi dave drama eden gold good food home really w yesterday services and platforms all 4 film4od analogue analogue terrestrial defunct bbc iplayer bbc three online blinkbox bt tv cable digital digital terrestrial list of channels freesat freesat freeview freewire high definition list of channels itv itv hub stv player local television my5 real digital restricted service licence satellite list of channels sky freesat from sky on demand sky sky hd talktalk tv top up tv tvcatchup virgin media filmflex tivo v youview zattoo studios bbc elstree centre bbc pacific quay bbc television centre broadcasting house broadcasting house cardiff fountain studios the leeds studios the london studios mediacityuk gas street studios granada studios osterley television centre roath lock teddington studios television centre southampton other defunct channels edinburgh international television festival history list of years list of channels student television viewing statistics most watched broadcasts companies and organisations companies major companies archant ascential bauer radio bbc bloomsbury publishing bt group channel four daily mail and general trust dentsu aegis network economist group emi music publishing endemol uk global group guardian media group haymarket informa itn itv johnston press mecom group news uk newsquest northern & shell origin broadband pearson press holdings reed elsevier reuters sky stv group syco talktalk group time inc. uk trinity mirror ubm virgin media wireless group other resources list of largest uk book publishers government and regulatory bodies advertising standards authority bbc trust british board of film classification british film institute culture media and sport select committee department for culture media and sport ofcom press complaints commission s4c authority uk film council industry and trades bodies british academy of film and television arts british phonographic industry broadcasting entertainment cinematograph and theatre union clearcast digital tv group digital uk equity federation against copyright theft national union of journalists the publishers association royal television society united kingdom independent broadcasting other bbc academy national film and television school national media museum regional and student media regional media media in england birmingham london manchester media in scotland aberdeen dundee glasgow media in wales cardiff student media student television category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title northern % 26 shell & oldid 739530664 categories northern & shellmedia companies of the united kingdomnewspaper companies of the united kingdommedia companies based in londonpublishing companies based in londonmedia companies established in 1974publishing companies established in 19741974 establishments in englandprivately held companies of the united kingdomhidden categories use dmy dates from july 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschnederlandsrom n suomi edit links this page was last modified on 15 september 2016 at 06 48 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view