ITV’s (LSE: ITV) upcoming price comparison site will be a JV with Yahoo’s (NSDQ: YHOO) Kelkoo, reckons NMA. The broadcaster was known to have been working on a Pricerunner-style site as part of its optimistic online growth forecasts, which were last week revised. Yahoo bought Kelkoo for a hefty €475 million in 2004, but in October started a process to give it “more independence” and “evaluate strategic options for the long-term future of the business”, after Yahoo UK MD Glen Drury told paidContent:UK Kelkoo would need to “re-think”.

SEE ALSO: Yahoo Considering “Strategic Options” For Comparison Shopping Service Kelkoo in Europe

Join the dots and ITV could well be placed to swoop for some kind of equity stake (exec chairman Michael Grade last week refused to rule out acquisitions but said the revised targets don’t depend on any). Or it could just be an ITV-badged Kelkoo site. Is this the right time for ITV to be entering the price comparison game? Though the worsening economy suggests consumers should be looking for better deals, recent reports say the market is declining. Experian put PriceGrabber up for sale, DMGT closed SimplySwitch, Scripps’ (NYSE: SSP) USwitch posted poor results. Financial comparison sites, however, are booming, with adverts for such services barely avoidable on ITV itself.