If ITV went to the wall

Over the past couple of days i have been wondering
What if ITV PLC went out of business, or even administration?

What would happen to channel 3? would there operate it as a going concern but if that is the case then many of the show would have to be pulled to Save costs big time. and could slots now be filled with muisc? that may be the cheaper options. where would half the shows go?

I dare say some one would buy the stations or would the divide the company in two and sell it off that way London operations and southern place and Machester of the northern operates ( may included leeds)

Do you know many companies who have the capital required?

Rather than pondering what-ifs, you might find the realities of the coming months much more interesting.

And probably more surprising.

I would say there could buy the company for £1 like there done else, whee, you may be right but you can never tell.

When you buy a company for a quid, you're buying it as a going concern - with all of its debts and liabilities (just in case you were thinking about making an offer).

I'm struggling to see which of the available media empires would want to take on the obligations of ITV just for the dubious honour of having the C3 licence.

I think its more likely that those who could step in will look after their own houses first, and will wait to see what happens next.

Surprising, and joyously, STV has so far bucked the trend by focussing on local output, and have seen revenues grow - but I doubt they'd make the mistake of overextending themselves again as they did before.

Correct me if im wrong but isnt the ITV Network made up of 14 regional licences? The ITV Network is supposed to be totally different from ITV PLC which is the company name for the merged Granada and Carlton. It just so happens that 10 of the 14 regional licences are owned by one company.

Not to mention the premises and playout facilities.

It may be 14 licences on paper - but not in practical terms.

And anyway, wasn't it all legally amalgamated rather quietly a few months back? I seem to remember a thread where it was pointed out that this had happened and everybody went "meh".

Would anyone in this day and age really care?

Honestly, with the exception of a handful of programmes (TV Burp, Coronation Street, Emmerdale & The Bill) no one really cares much for ITV these days.

Thats what I was wondering - because if ITV Plc is the franchise holder of 10 of the ITV licences then if they went into adminstration would other companys be able to bid for franchises just like in 1991? The ITV Network would still exist - as would Channel, STV and UTV.

Well the recent cutbacks in Leeds have caused a bit of a fuss.

Putting aside your personal preferences, ITV makes a massive conrtibution to UK production.

The recent cutbacks in regional news would be insignificant to a total shutdown of the service.

*Would the BBC be as good without ITV to compete with? Doubt it, look at the genres where ITV have already withdrawn from and plot a similar decline at the beeb, notably current affairs and childrens.*

*personal opinion

Probably would be able to, but no company would. Certainly not for individual licences and I doubt ITV plc as a whole would look like a tasty opportunity if it went down the pan. The ITV Network wouldn't exist if that did happen, because all that would be left is the little output that Channel, STV and UTV produce with nothing else to fill the rest of the schedule.

There would be a lot more than that, as there would be all the output from independent production companies.