SMG Television Boss Calls For End To ITV Super Tax
SMG Television chief executive, Donald Emslie, has called on the Government to reduce the £300 million a year that ITV currently pays for its analogue television licence.
Speaking at the annual TV From The Nations And Regions Conference, Emslie, who is also chair of the ITV council, said: “The ITV system was only set up to create competition within a monopoly situation. The competition is now outside of this system and I would suggest that this means the system needs to change.”
He continued: “If the Government doesn’t do something about ITV’s three hundred million pound super tax then ITV’s investment in programmes will inevitably have to diminish – and this in a world where the expansion of digital, multi-channel television is segmenting audiences.”
Earlier this year Granada chairman, Charles Allen, called for an end to ITV’s annual £300 million super tax and argued that the BBC should lose 10% of its licence fee to fund public service programming on commercial channels (see Granada Chairman Calls For Slice Of BBC Licence Fee).
This prompted Channel 4’s director of programming, Tim Gardam, to call on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to give the station a slice of the £2.5 billion per year that the BBC makes from licence fee revenues (see Channel 4 Calls For Slice Of BBC Licence Fee).
Emslie also urged the Government and ITV to “rationalise” the network and take costs out of the system so it can really compete with the other broadcasters. He said: “ITV’s role as the pre-eminent regional broadcaster is threatened by the economic circumstance of being a commercial broadcaster in an increasingly competitive world – and at the same time the BBC is investing more in regional programmes.”
He added: “The one thing I can guarantee is that the status quo is not an option – change is vital if we are to ensure the future of this valuable ingredient in the diversity of UK broadcasting.”
Earlier this year BBC director general, Greg Dyke, called for Government intervention to prevent the collapse of ITV as a public service broadcaster. He called on Ofcom and the Treasury to recognise that ITV is no longer the “cash cow” that it once was and cannot afford to be paying more than £300 million a year for its analogue licence (see Dyke Calls On Government To Strengthen ITV).
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