Jan. 9--It was a bleak day for broadcasters as Goldman Sachs added ITV and BSkyB to its influential conviction sell list.

The City big-hitter notes ITV's recent rally, from an all-time low of 26p in October, has left the Coronation Street broadcaster trading at an almost record premium to the rest of the sector.

After signs of a further decline in audience share and a worsening outlook for its content division, Goldman says ITV could suffer a funding shortage by 2010. This could result in a suspension of its dividend and force chairman Michael Grade to make programming cuts.

Analysts also warn the chances of the Footsie 100 reject attracting a bid have receded since November, but that a high chance of an offer is priced into the shares. Big Brother creator Endemol and RTL, the European media giant which owns Channel 5, have been mooted as suitors. Goldman's bearish assessment left ITV off 3/4p at 39p.

BSkyB also suffered at the broker's hands. Advising clients to dump the stock, Goldman has cut its price target from 500p to 457p. Analysts say that the satellite broadcaster has outperformed the rest of the media sector, leaving Sky "priced for perfection" despite concerns that its traditionally defensive nature will not be enough to save it from the impact of global recession. This month BSkyB is expected to be forced to admit a marked slowdown in subscriber growth. It lost 24 1/4p to 450 3/4p.

The FTSE rallied at lunchtime after the key non-farm payroll figures came out in line with expectations. In thin trading, it rose 14.11 points to 4519.48.

The quiet day added to the injury for the London Stock Exchange, which admitted the average daily value traded on the exchange had almost halved in December. Last month, the total number of trades on the LSE was down 10 percent on 2007. Its shares dropped 3p to 590 1/2p.

Oil titan ExxonMobil could be about to go on a shopping spree, according to rumours doing the rounds. BP, off 5 1/4p at 526 3/4p, was thought to be the likely candidate, but BG, 10 1/2p lower at 990 1/2p also got a mention. Speculation was sparked by a Bernstein note, pointing out that Exxon has cash to splash and could hoover up rivals looking cheap.

This wasn't the only rumour reappearing. Market talk was again that interdealer broker iCap, up a penny at 312p, might be looking at launching an ambitious bid for hedge fund giant Man Group, down 2 1/2p at 250 1/2p.