Bidding Closes For ITV News Contract

Bidding for the four-year ITV news contract closes today and ITN will be challenged for the first time by the Channel 3 News consortium.

ITN has provided news on the ITV network for 46 years and will face competition for the contract, which begins in 2003 and is thought to be worth in excess of £150m, from the Channel 3 News consortium which is made up of BSkyB, CBS News, Chrysalis Group, Ulster Television and Bloomberg.

A decision is expected to be announced in September

ITN remain the favourites to secure the contract given that two of its major shareholders are ITV partners Carlton Communications and Granada. However the Channel 3 consortium is expected to put in a lower bid than ITN, which currently charges ITV around £40m for its news service.

Channel 3 News became a nominated news provider in May, allowing it to compete for the contract. 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 (see ITC Decision Creates Competition For ITV News Provision For The First Time).

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 ITV And BBC1 Go Head To Head With Evening News).

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

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