UTV sell TV business to ITV

I think UTV Ireland might actually have made the package a lot more attractive than anyone thinks. With ITV becoming a licensed broadcaster in the republic they might... in a short while...(after dust has settled) use it to their accounting advantage, they'll have the excuse to funnel profits thru the Irish Operation (like other companies do ) All legal and above board. The Irish operation would never have to make a profit

They've done something like this before with Channel I believe... (for different reasons of course)

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/itv-aims-to-avoid-fines-with-double-compliance-/5005507.article

What about the ITV2 stuff?

To be honest I can't see in-vision continuity staying for much longer. The UTV stations will do well to keep their continuity team at all (even for their own Irish made programming). However as I said earlier if the UTV stations do keep their CA teams, then to be fair the Welsh should have their own return too. To be honest I've never understood why Regional Newsreaders aren't used to produce some pre-recorded Regional announcements for English Regional programming too. It surely wouldn't cost much and would be a nice little unique selling point against other commercial channels.

Surely UTV could take on UTV Irelands current on-air branding , it basically based on the ITV package.

I can't see UTV Ireland losing separate continuity to be honest, given that there are still significant variations between it and the ITV network in prime time. The only time I ever saw IVC on UTV Ireland was opening night though. As you can imagine there'd be a bit more resistance here to London based commentary.

UTV NI's could go relatively quickly though.

You've hit the nail on the head. People are dwelling on UTV Ireland's losses far too much as if it was a noose around UTV's neck.

I'd go as far as to say that UTV Ireland was created with a sale in mind.

Good point. UTV will need as much money as possible to finance their digital radio expansion next year, of which the £100m will come in handy. Now if it was just the Channel 3 franchise they were selling, the company may not be as valuable.

ITV now have an outlet in the Irish Republic, in addition to the Northern Ireland franchise, which will expand their share. No wonder UTV were willing to run at a loss in Eire with the potential of a big sale of the tv business.

I think you're maybe losing sight of who is the chicken and the egg here - certainly the feeling on this side of the Irish Sea, and most definitely from NI, is that UTV Ireland was the cause of the sale, not that the sale was the cause of UTV Ireland.

Indeed, they gambled with UTV Ireland. While it's not viable for UTV in it's current form, it's more valuable to ITV which is why big money changed hands. It's a win, win for both parties. It may not satisfy pres anoraks who still like dated on screen continuity though.

I would take everything media outlets say with a grain of Salt. It's a great cover story for UTV, they had to sell because of UTV Ireland. There would have been outrage (and probably will still be) in NI that the station is being sold. UTV Ireland is a great excuse. In the Media Circles i'm in many are saying the reason to Buy was UTV Ireland. Run properly the Republic could be a cash cow for ITV, remember that ITV have the most popular soaps in Ireland(when you add all the figures together) and their other shows are easily number 2 in the Market if you add up all the ways people are viewing them. The trick is to get the audience to watch them on the one service.
Remember that UTV was easily the second most watched service in the Republic before TV3 came along, the viewers are still watching the same shows they just got divided up in all directions. Get them back in one place and your profits return.

UTV management really tripped up when you look at how they handled the new Irish service, but with proper management it should in theory bring in twice as much cash as the NI service in the long run.

That's not even getting into Tax affairs which could make ITV 10's of Millions extra each and every year.

Didn't ITV used to own or part own TV3 though - they got out of that pretty swiftly.

Well it was six years and they made a profit on it of about 40 million pounds, Granada Bought it in 2000 for around 25 million and they sold it for 70 million, and got out 12 months before the Advertising Crash, good business to be honest. The Two biggest losers in the pyramid scheme of TV3 are the Irish Taxpayer who lost 180 million appox in written off loans and Doughty Hanson & Co. who lost anything over 70 million depending on how you do your accounts.

http://news.sky.com/story/446498/itv-sells-irish-tv3-stake