Carlton Communications has today confirmed press reports that its chief executive Gerry Murphy has accused Granada of ‘hysterical scaremongering’ in its attempt to influence the Government over the media ownership rules.
Responding to Granada’s letter to the prime minister (see
Granada Warns Of ‘Potential Disaster’ For ITV) Murphy said: “We disagree fundamentally that a slippage of a few months in the timetable for the Communications Bill is unduly threatening to ITV or its shareholders.”
Granada chairman Charles Allen’s letter warned that Granada’s falling share price is sparking predatory interest from foreign buyers, a number of which have already approached the company. Furthermore, ONdigital, the loss-making digital terrestrial TV joint-venture between Carlton and Granada, may be closed down following such a buy-out.
Murphy also pointed out that a merger of Carlton and Granada was not a foregone conclusion due to the size of their combined share of the ITV advertising market – currently 56%.
Confidence in ITV was also knocked by Zenith Media’s predictions that this year’s ad revenue will be the worst in ITV’s 50-odd year history.
By the close of trading today, Carlton stock was down 13¼p at 332¼p and Granada was down just 1p at 142½p.
