ITV Respond To ITC Criticisms

ITV has issued a statement in defence of the criticisms made against it by the ITC in its 1996 Performance Review issued today ITC Questions ITV’s Commitment To Its Licence Terms. After acknowledging the Commission’s praise of the quality of ITV programmes, Network Centre chairman, Leslie Hill, went on to say: “The ITC’s judgment that the ITV peak-time schedule relied too heavily on drama in 1996 is a cause of surprise and concern to us. ITV has spent over a decade building itself as the home of quality British drama. We do not agree that the diversity of the peak-time schedule and, in particular, comedy has suffered as a result of long-running drama series. The number of hours of comedy remains on par with previous years, with the new episodes of ‘soaps’ taking the place of game-shows.”

Hill disputed the ITC’s comments that documentary programming had been significantly reduced year-on-year in 1996. “There were more hours of factual programming on ITV in 1996 than in 1995, and more current affairs titles in peak-time than on any other channel.” The ITC, however, did make clear that this particular reference concerned only documentary programmes and did not include current affair programmes.

The Network Centre admitted that 1996 had suffered from a short-fall in arts programming and said that the problem was being addressed.

ITV: 0171 843 8217