Interesting piece in the Guardian yesterday about new ITV chairman Archie Norman is rethinking the policy of dumping regional news in England and Wales. STV and UTV provide the service in Scotland Northern Ireland respectively.
It states ‘(Archie) Norman has been conducting a strategic review of all ITV's activities since taking over from Michael Grade in January and is said to be considering reversing his predecessor's decision to withdraw from local news provision for the English regions and Wales.
"Archie thinks ITV should continue to do regional news," a source close to the ITV chairman said. "His sentiment is that it is important, not something to walk away from."
ITV's attitude is understood to be hardening against the plan to test independently financed news consortiums (IFNCs) in Wales, Scotland and the North East and Borders region, which would produce regional bulletins for ITV1. The scheme is being rushed through parliament ahead of a likely May general election
A source involved in the process said that ITV executives are concerned about keeping control of advertising airtime around the regional news slots on ITV1, the quality of the proposed replacement services, and the longer-term implications of losing control of parts of the schedule on its flagship network.
The selection panel chaired by Richard Hooper is on schedule to make a decision on the three winners next Tuesday, 23 March, ahead of Bradshaw's announcement on 25 March.
Successful bidders will share a pot of licence fee money from the digital switchover surplus worth £40m and will also have to sign a contract with ITV, which remains responsible for compliance.
It all sounds like too little to late to me and you have to ask why ITV is changing its mind so late into the process?Any source
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