ITV - Cutbacks & Proposed merger

ITV proposes merger with Channel 4 and Five to create broadcasting giant
ITV has drawn up a radical plan for a three-way merger with Channel 4 and Channel Five that would prompt one of the biggest shakeups in British broadcasting history.
Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/25/itv-proposes-broadcasting-giant

I suppose it's one solution to the financial problem the channels appear to currently have, though presumably *if* merged some channels might face the axe.

ITV can keep their grubby little mitts off Channel 4. Whatever state C4 and Five are in now, they'd be in a far worse state under ITV control.

Considering Kangaroo was blocked I don't see how that would get past the Competition Commission - both independent producers and advertisers would have very valid reasons to object.

I also can't see any merger between BBC Worldwide and C4 getting cleared either - and I really don't think any merger would benefit either party too in the long term and it risks being pushed through as a short term solution which ultimately would probably cause more problems than it would save.

I bet there would try and move most regional programmes over to ch4 and also use the channel as a dumping for any old rubbish ITV did not want,

You obviously weren't around November 1982 until December 1992.

I don;t remember much when I was younger, I do know that itv partly controlled ch4 and help get the ads etc on to ch4 or something

I'll try and summarise it for you. To get Channel 4 started it required heavy investment from all the ITV companies, to get this money back they were allowed total control of advertising on Channel 4, their Advertisement regional structure was the exact same as ITV's, ITV played the ads out from each station, I think TV-am even got their share aswell. This practice was carried on to the 31st December 1992 (ie the last day of the old ITV system), as it was agreed in the 1990 Broadcasting Act that Channel 4 would be allowed to go fully independent from ITV, and therefore would be allow to control their own advertising.

As for "dumping programmes", there weren't too many, alot of ITV's minority output was given to Channel 4, such as LWT's LMU output, Granada's What The Papers Say (albeit not for very long) and probably most famously ITV's Schools programmes. Although the arguement here was that ITV could keep these services (ie doing their Public service duty), whilst being commercial on their own channel, hence why they dropped Schools for something more commercial.

Also it's why Horse racing is on Channel 4, ITV weren't keen on midweek afternoon races, as very few watched in comparison to the typical housewife audience, but they gave it to C4 and both parties were happy, if anything Racing coverage improved.

Indeed. Each regional ITV station was responsible for the playout of ad breaks on their region of Channel 4 as well as their own 'channel 3' franchise. AIUI, while each ITV station presented it's own schedules and joined programmes coming from other stations on a to-the-second-timed basis, Channel 4 Presentation sent trigger pulses to the regional ITV stations to fire breaks in a sequence and so the playout of ads on 4 was largely automated. In other words, there weren't full regional presentation galleries for Channel 4 up and down the country.

TVam owned the advertising airtime on Channel 4 from 0630-0925 (nationally I think). Because of the switching arrangements involved in changing the structure of Channel 3 from National Network to Regional Network, there was also a 5 minute interval on Channel 4 from 0925 to 0930, which was filled famously with the ITV Schools "Rotomotion" holding sequence.

On one hand Grade is slashing programming budgets, facilities and staff on the other he wants to create a 'broadcasting giant'! That was the excuse for merging the ITV companies and we all know what a success that was. His suggestion to remove all advertising form Channel 4 is presumably to get a reaction from the BBC - Why does he think he can interfere in all of UK broadcasting whilst presiding over a crumbling empire?

Time to cart Michael and his cronies off to the funny farm before they do any more damage

It's obvious he sees C4 as a threat and wants to remove that. If he thinks removing advertising from C4 will see that revenue stream move to ITV he's very much mistaken.

That was the idea, however the unions at some ITV companies didn't like the idea of that, and in those regions C4's CATS automation system in London lit a tally lamp at the ITV regional centre, and on seeing that illuminate the local operator would initiate the break. Some things from the so called 'golden age of broadcasting' in the 70s and 80s are best left in the past !

C4's CATS system was very much akin to the Beeb's Presfax. Break info and cues were sent on a VBI lines using teletext protocols.

Not quite fully independent - while Channel 4 sold its own advertising from 1993, there remainded a "funding formula" which was meant to provide Channel 4 with a means of existance if it couldn't earn enough advertising revenue. Basically it was an insurance system - if Channel 4 made a profit, it would pay ITV, if Channel 4 made a loss, ITV would pay it. But Channel 4 never made a loss and the funding formula was phased out at the end of 1998 cutting ITV and Channel 4's ties once and for all. During this period ITV and Channel 4 continued to run trailers for each other even though they were now in competition which each other.

ITV know any merger like this would be blocked by the Competition Commission... but at the end of the day that's probably not the point that matters from the corporate point of view. If they can pull out random ideas we'll probably hear nothing else about, but which raise their share price 5% just on the speculation, they've won.