Carlton And Granada Cleared Of Collusion In Record Ad Deal

ITV companies Carlton and Granada have been cleared of any wrongdoing in securing a £320m advertising deal with Unilever in an unofficial investigation by the ITC.

The deal, struck in May this year (see Unilever Signs Record UK Airtime Deal), was the largest in UK television history and drew sharp criticism from Channel 4, which wrote a letter of complaint to ITC (see Channel 4 Opposes ITV’s Record Ad Deal). The rival channel believed the record-breaking deal breached the rules which prevent the two main ITV companies, Carlton and Granada, from acting as a single sales house.

A spokesman for the ITC told NewsLine: “There was never an official complaint or investigation into this matter. Concerns were raised with us and we took a closer look at the deal and didn’t find any problems with it.”

ITV, which has been suffering from the downturn in advertising revenue and the demise of ITV Digital will no doubt be relieved at the decision which leaves it free to secure similar long-term deals.

The ITC recently wrote to Carlton and Granada asking them to clarify plans to merge their sales and marketing teams after Carlton Chief Executive, Gerry Murphy, spoke of his plans to create a “virtual enterprise” in a recent newspaper interview. (see ITC Raises Questions Over ITV’s Virtual Enterprise)

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk

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