ITV Companies Give Licence Payments Mixed Response

The licence fee payment changes introduced by the Independent Television Commission yesterday (see GMTV Sees Cut In Treasury Payment),have been met with a mixed response from the eleven ITV franchise companies involved. In is understood that six of the franchises have agreed to the new terms and have pledged to pump the money they will save into new programming and increasing their output to the Network schedule.

Those that have accepted the terms will have their licences renewed on 1 January 1999. The groups that reject the new terms, believed to be Anglia, Border and Central, will have two further opportunities for renewal: in January 2000 and April 2001. On each application the value of their licences will be reassessed in the light of the marketplace at that time. Should a franchise reject each application offer, or fail to reapply, the licence will be offered out to competitive tender.

Border, Anglia and Central are all believed to be unhappy with the fact the cost of their licences has either risen or remained more or less the same, particularly in the light of the substantial reduction which GMTV received.