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Grade: BBC deal would secure ITV regional news until 2016 |
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Wednesday, 14 January 2009 |
ITV executive chairman, Michael Grade, has backed proposals to share regional facilities with the BBC.
It comes ahead of Ofom’s decision next week on the future of public service broadcasting. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Grade said the broadcaster was being "hampered by an outdated Ofcom."
He said that the solution "which will allow ITV to sustain its regional news services until at least 2016" is to work with the BBC.
As previously reported in How-Do, the BBC had already approached the commercial broadcaster as part of its Partnership Proposals.
A deal is now in place for them to share facilities, buildings and technology, to reduce the costs of regional programming. News will not be included in this.
"This would allow ITV to operate with greater commercial freedom and efficiency, while providing robust competition to the BBC in national, international and regional broadcast news."
 Under fire
However, he wrote that if this didn’t happen, there was another option, which was to give up on its public service licences and "operate as a purely commercial entity, with no commitment to news or original production. That is not without risk and is not our preferred option."
"It is clear, though, that without radical action, we're heading towards a situation where commercial investment in original programming in the UK becomes unsustainable, leaving the BBC as the sole provider of quality, British programming. And that can only be bad news for viewers."The Ofcom paper on Public Service Broadcasting comes out next week. Something to add? Then leave a comment below or email us now.
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