Carlton Delivers Upbeat Statement Following Strong Revenue Growth

Carlton Communications released a statement yesterday following its annual general meeting. The media group declared it had made a good start to the year, with television performing well and advertising revenue continuing to grow.

According to the group’s chairman Michael Green, ITV is extending its lead over the BBC thanks to programmes such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Peak Practice. The broadcaster launched its digital TV channel ITV2 before Christmas. Carlton also has a 50% share in ONdigital, the digital terrestrial service which launched last year (see Newsline).

Of the rest of the year, Michael Green commented: “We are clearly focused on developing our existing businesses and investing in digital television. At ONdigital we intend to build on the company’s promising start and develop the full potential of dish-free digital television. We are also making progress in developing on-line businesses and will be establishing an innovative service to handle e-commerce for retailers.”

On 1 January 1999, Carlton, Westcountry Television, Meridian and GMTV started new ten year licences. As a result, there has been a reduction in the broadcasting taxes which Carlton pays to the treasury each year, and this will partly offset the reduction in revenue from the Channel 4 funding formula during the current year.

The ITC also ruled that Channel 4 is to pay £66 million to it for distribution to the Channel 3 licensees. This will be the final payment under the formula funding provisions (see C4 Funding Formula To End) and Channel 4 has announced that it is to plough the benefits into increasing its programme budget by 13% to £375 million.

Carlton: 0171 663 6363 Channel 4: 0171 396 4444 ITC: 0171 306 7743