The ITC has decided that Scottish Television’s acquisition of Caledonian Publishing *STV Takes Over Caledonian does not operate against the public interest and can go ahead.
The ITC and Office of Fair Trading launched a public interest test regarding the takeover as part of the provisions for the new cross-media ownership rules which were introduced by the Broadcasting Act 1996.
These rules require the ITC to consider whether certain cases of common control of newspapers and television services may be expected to operate against the public interest. The Commission was particularly concerned over Caledonian’s newspapers the Evening Times and the Herald, which serve the same areas as STV’s broadcasts. The rule that an ITV licence cannot be held by a company which has a local newspaper market share of 20% or more was also investigated with regards to the takeover but it was found that Caledonian’s share was less than this.
The possible influence of the Mirror Group, which holds just under 20% of STV, on Caledonian’s newspapers was also considered, though again this was found not to be a problem since no Mirror Group representative was on the board of directors at Caledonian.
* MediaTel subscribers only
ITC: 0171 255 3000
Media Jobs
Hello. We have downloaded cookies on your device. Some of these cookies are essential for the website to function. Others are non-essential and are used for analytics and advertising.
We need your consent for these types of cookies.
To withdraw your consent or change your cookie choices, please do this through your browser settings.
Otherwise, click OK to accept and continue.
