ITN Signs New Contract With ITV

ITN has secured its position as ITV’s news provider by signing a new six-year contract with the broadcaster, which will run from January 2003.

ITN was reportedly forced to cut its bid for the contract from £45m to around £35m in the face of competition from the Channel Three consortium (see ITC Decision Creates Competition For ITV News Provision For The First Time) and speculation that the news organisation will have to cut jobs as a result of the new deal is mounting.

As part of the contract ITN will be required to supply ITV with a tailored online news service and will have to expand its presence in North America where it currently has only one correspondent. This will inevitably lead to increasing costs for ITN and reports suggests that in the face of the worsening economic climate up to 100 jobs could go at the company.

From 2003 ITN will also be forced to remove the ITN brand from its news broadcasts which will be signed off with the tag “ITV news.”

ITN was confirmed as the winner of the news contract last month (see ITN Wins ITV News Bid) ending the latest attempt by Rupert Murdoch, who owns a stake in the Channel Three consortium (see Fighting Over News Moves To Fresh Battleground As Sky Consortium Eyes ITV Contract), to enter the arena of terrestrial news provision.

ITN: 020 7833 3000 www.itn.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk

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