ITV News Up For Grabs As Bidding Process Begins

ITV will issue the tender specifications for its national news contract in the next week and ITN will face competition for the first time.

ITN, which is jointly owned by Carlton, Granada, UBM and Reuters will be challenged by Channel 3 News, a consortium formed by BSkyB, CBS, Bloomberg, Chrysalis and Ulster TV.

An ITV spokesperson today confirmed that ITN and Channel 3 News will be the only groups submitting bids and will have until July to formulate their proposals, with a decision expected from ITV later in the Autumn.ITV currently pays ITN around £40m for its news service, a figure which is expected to be undercut by the rival consortium.

Channel 3 News became a nominated news provider last month, allowing it to compete for the contract (see ITC Decision Creates Competition For ITV News Provision For The First Time). The companies involved each took a one-fifth stake in the consortium, in order to reduce Rupert Murdoch’s share and get around an ITC rule which prevents a single organisation owning more than 20% of ITV’s news service.

Rupert Murdoch made an unsuccessful attempt to win the contract when it last came up for renewal in 1996 and Sky News also made a request to the ITC to be considered for the contract last year, but was refused (see Fighting Over News Moves To Fresh Battleground As Sky Consortium Eyes ITV Contract).

However an ITC spokesperson said that ITN’s rivals are adequately financed and equipped to provide a quality news service, adding that the public must view any competition in a positive way.

News has become a contentious issue lately following the debate over ITV’s News At Ten (see ITV And BBC1 Go Head To Head With Evening News).

BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com ITC: 020 7255 3000 www.itc.org.uk ITN: 020 7833 3000 www.itn.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8222 www.itv.co.uk

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