Carlton and Granada have today confirmed plans for changes within the structure of ITV including a radical overhaul of their joint-owned pay-tv channel ONdigital. Stuart Prebble is to be appointed chief executive of the network which will now operate three businesses – ITV channels, ITV Digital and ITV.com.
ITV Digital is the rebranded name for ONdigital. A new sports offering, ITV Sport Channel, will be added to its stable in August, combining ITV and ONdigital sports rights, including UEFA Champions League, Nationwide Football League and the Worthington Cup.
The pay-tv platform increased its digital subscribers by 75,000 during the first quarter of this year, which now stand at 1.087m. The group said today that it aims to break-even in 2003/4 with 1.7m subscribers, a revised figure on its previous estimate of 2m for 2002.
Prebble will have overall responsibility for all aspects of the ITV business. David Liddiment, currently director of programmes at the network, will also take on the responsibility of ITV director of channels, including editorial control for the digital channels. Rob Fyfe will be appointed managing director of ITV Digital.
Prebble will also head up ITV.com, set to launch later this year as a “unified online home for ITV entertainment and interactivity”, combining itv.co.uk with sites such as Coronationstreet.co.uk and Emmerdale.co.uk. It will feature the recently-launched Millionaire games, (see ITV Takes Millionaire Online), and will include chat rooms, online events and SMS Messaging services.
Stuart Prebble said: “This is great news for viewers, advertisers, and for the future of digital television in the UK. ITV will continue to offer viewers the best free-to-air sport and entertainment and now a clear and trusted brand to lead them to the digital and online world.”
Combining the ITV assets of Carlton and Granada is expected to yield total cost efficiencies of £20m a year and this figure is expected to rise to £100m when the two companies finally merge. ABN Amro broadly welcomed today’s announcements but is concerned by the lack of detail on how the group plans to tackle the high churn rate (see ONdigital Subs Growth Hampered By High Churn) and high subscriber acquisition costs at ITV Digital.
ITV: 020 7843 8000
