>effectively entrenched the big Two ITV companies (GMG and >Carlton) meaning they are unlikely to lose any of their >franchises, apart from through mergers and sell-offs.
I don't think it would make much difference if they did loose a franchise. Say Tyne Tees had to re-apply for it's franchise. All GMG have to do is, aswell as Tyne Tees, create 5 or 6 new companies to bid for the North East franchise (which wouldn't necessarily cost a lot of money) and almost certainly one of them would get it back. Then Tyne Tees could be replaced with NETV or whatever wins, but it's still GMG, it still uses ex-Tyne Tees staff, it still uses the boring GMG corporate look. It would be exactly the same.
Yep cwathen - I think it is also recognised that if the old franchise renewal system were continued as soon as a new independent company won a franchise it would be bought up by other ITV franchise holders.
It seems that the ITV system will now always form companies which are just small enough to comply with legislation!
(Current legislation restricts ITV ownership to a maximum proportion of the total ITV advertising revenue. Hence HTV had to be sold by Granada when they took over United's TV interests - Anglia, Meridian and HTV - as if they had retained all three franchise regions they would have been over the revenue limit. Both Granada and Carlton are just small enough to comply with legislation)
But seriously, ITV becoming one company goes against everything, including the statement on the website (don't ask me to quote it, but the idea was that ITV was a regional broadcaster)
If ITV disapeared I guarante that some bright spark would invent a new style ITV less than TEn years later.
KEEP ITV REGIONAL, BRING BACK TVS AND DO ANYTHING ELSE THAT WILL HELP
mdta on 1:36 pm on Jan. 3, 2002
you tend to forget that it was Margaret Thatcher who split ITV up into its 15 regional licenses to begin with, they have obviously seen the error of their ways...
still wouldnt vote for them mind you...
It's comments this ill-informed that kind of blow up mdta's credibility quite frankly. The idea that before Maggie came along ITV was a single company is quite ludicrous.
And it is the same mdta who wants to see the merger of the channels into one. Someone who clearly knows so little about the system you have to consider the validity of his arguments, never mind the conclusions...
RW
RW
Quote:
Whataday on 5:16 pm on Jan. 3, 2002
Someone who knows something about ITV!
TWO ident on 1:28 pm on Jan. 3, 2002
And this is coming from the party that broke the railway sector up from one state monopoly into 30 different companies?
'ITV is the only truly regional television network in Britain. Indeed, its very creation in 1955 was based on the need to provide quality television for local audiences.'
'People think of ITV as the channel closest to home, as more in touch with them and as more friendly and approachable than other channels'
Which people are they talking about - I see Carlton as a channel made in London with the odd regional news program. There is nothing that makes Carlton Westcountry different from Carlton London.
Sadly though, every word of that is completely correct. ITV
is
the only truly regional network in the UK. OK, so there is a lot of consolidation going on, and many of the companies are treating their duties with some contempt, but it
is
a regional network.
And will be, even if ITV becomes one company. One thing people forget, is that regional responsibilities are not just going to go away. ITV will have to retain some part-time regional continuity, programming departments and staff no matter what they do, unless they completely renegotiate their contracts. And that ain't going to happen for some time yet!!
