ITC Publishes Performance Review For ITV’s Dramatic Year

The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has published an annual performance review for Channel 3. In it the efforts of ITV to halt audience decline through marketing were acknowledged and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was praised for having “restated the power of ITV to be a national talking point.”

Children’s programming and dramas such as The Murder of Stephen Lawrence were seen as evidence of a commitment to new and wide-ranging ideas. In what must be a relief to ITV in the light of the controversial rescheduling of the evening news (see ITC Rejects ITV’s Proposals For Halting Audience Decline), the editorial quality and range of ITN was said to remain “undiminished”.

Other factual programming was given a less favourable mention. “There remained a sameness in much of the material presented and its tone.” said the report. “Human interest stories, CCTV and surveillance footage, consumerism and lifestyle provided the bedrock for a lot of the factual output.” The channel was warned to “guard against homogeneity in factual programming.”

In general the regions were found to have done well and complied with licence requirements. However the ITC expressed its regret that Central’s rebranding as Carlton lost its separate regional identity.

The ITC concluded its investigations into complaints against Grampian’s regional programming earlier this month (see ITC Publishes Findings Into Grampian Complaint), and in this review it reiterated that there were “insufficient non-news programmes of genuine regional interest”. In particular it highlighted the decision not to transmit a Hogmanay programme from the region on Millennium eve, which the ITC found “difficult to comprehend.”

The review acknowledged that “1999 was a year of dramatic change” for the channel and said that despite disappointments “ITV should keep faith with high levels of investment in and supportive scheduling of new talents and formats.”

ITC: 020 7306 7743