Profits down 28% at ITV - regional news to suffer?

So, dire financial results from ITV - again - when will the finger point at Grade?

But, are these figures a blessing in disguise for the ailing broadcaster? More cuts before 2010 (not including the regional news cuts already announced). Will ITV now go to Ofcom and say "can't we get rid of these pesky regional news programmes? They really are a royal pain in the a**e!"

Watch this space.

http://www.tvforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26337&start=1560

I think today's news merits a separate thread of its own. That way we won't get bogged down looking at old clock from Yorkshire and Voice of God annos for Central News.

Never before have the various regional ITV news programmes had such an uncertain future.

Also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7544447.stm

I see Grade's floating the "option" again of not just getting Ofcom to let them slip their leash even more, but giving up PSB status completely. They can't afford to do that, literally - if they did, they would lose their half of Mux 2 (PSB2 post-DSO - remembering that the PSB muxes are the only ones who will have 98%+ coverage and that the COM muxes are fully booked up well into the future, so ITV can't just break those contracts to move its' channels into those spaces...), and their privileged EPG slots [channel 3 on Freeview and channel 103 on Sky (who would no doubt plonk Sky Onc there immediately), Virgin (who would plonk Virgin1 there) and probably Freesat]; meaning they would end up buried deep in the EPGs. Oh, and any analogue coverage for as long as that lasts (and there's a significant minority of analogue-only sets & households still out there). They'd lose at LEAST half their audience, more if they couldn't find a slot on Freeview immediately. It'd be suicide.

And Ofcom should call their bluff.

How would this Work with STV?

They would carry on as they do now, meaning they would still have to have Sky EPG Ch 103 etc in Scotland.

But of course if ITV were reduced to the same status as all the other crappy non PSB channels, then I expect the quality of 'network' programming they supply to STV (and UTV/CTV) would suffer, making those stations' output similarly unattractive. In the end, they would be forced away from PSB status as well.

It's easy for us to pontificate about how spineless Ofcom are in not standing up to ITV and how they should punish them if they give up their PSB commitments. However, if ITV were suddenly to vanish from analogue and the 3/103 slots on digital I'm sure there would be a public outcry.

As much as it sticks in my throat to say it: Grade probably has Ofcom over a barrel with his suggestion to remove PSB programming altogether, including perhaps the regional news programmes in the English regions (as I'm sure that's the end result).

Most of the public would probably be content with an 'England Today' (and existing programme in Wales) type of bulletin if they could keep their Corrie, Emmerdale, Doc Martin, Loose Women....etc.

As recompense perhaps ITV could be forced to pay a levy which was funnelled directly into the BBC Regional News budget to allow them to improve their service and provide more regional non-news programmes.

ITV going non-PSB would break STV and UTV. There would then be no requirement on ITV's part to deliver the network schedule to them, meaning that these stations would become regional-only overnight.

Unless of course they were invited to get together and become effectively the replacement for ITV, or the current English ITV contracts were re-advertised.

Ofcom should be putting their feelers out -- if there are any broadcasters out there willing to take on the PSB contracts in some modified form, they should jump on the chance. For an overseas broadcaster this would represent an opportunity to get a real foothold in the UK market.

ITV would be bankrupt in six months (to quote Bruce Gyngell in 1991), and the carcass could be taken over by the new company.

> Most of the public would probably be content with an 'England Today' (and existing programme in Wales) type of bulletin if they could keep their Corrie, Emmerdale, Doc Martin, Loose Women....etc.

Kill ITV as a PSB and these won't disappear -- they'd just move to another channel. ITV couldn't afford to keep them, and also couldn't afford to end them.

This seems, to me, to be a mix of both the messy conglomeration of ITV, and the fact that programming quality has been falling drastically.

Firstly, ITV is now a messy, bloated company. It owns shares in ITN, SDN (who own MUX A), Carlton, and - god knows why - Friends Reunited . It is far too messy and is simply not focussing its business on what it's supposed to be focussing on - broadcasting . Things were so much simpler in the old days: the ITV Network Centre would select the creme de la creme of the regions' output, and redistribute it across the network. Regions produced the local news, and national news came from ITN in London, which wasn't, at that time, the news for people who think the Daily Mail is run by hippies.

However, as ITV plc now owns everything, it means that it's expensive to produce regional programmes, and therefore expensive to fulfil the PSB remit.

So, it seems to me that ITV have three options open to them:

1. Plough on as is going on at present, and almost certainly face ruin.
   
2. Ask Ofcom to remove up their PSB status, shifting them onto DTT (or, God forbid, a subscription service) and leaving the MUX open for another broadcaster. (It may be an opportunity for Ofcom to start afresh with an "ITV Mk. 2", like ITV was before conglomeration.)
   
3. Take out the company-cleaver and slice the company into tiny little pieces, like it was before. As all the companies have independent finances, it becomes more economical to produce local programming.

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised at this story, the state of the current economic climate is obviously going to have a major effect on a company that gets all it's revenue from advertising. Add in the fact that they are a company that used to have a near monopoly but no longer do, and it's obvious it's going to be financially difficult

I can't imagine any commercial TV station or any former monopoly doing well at the moment

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