Grade Says ITV Lacks Innovation As Profits Decline

Michael Grade bemoaned ITV’s lack of innovation as the broadcaster announced a decline in full-year pre-tax profits from £311 million to £288 million.

In a financial statement released today, Grade said: “There is a lack of innovation in our programming, partly resulting from a fear of ratings failure and the punitive consequences that follow under the Contract Rights Renewal (CRR) remedy.”

ITV’s turnover for the year to 31 December 2006 was £2.18 billion, compared to £2.19 billion in 2005, whilst the broadcaster’s total revenue for the year was £2.18 million compared to 2.19 million in 2005.

ITV announced yesterday that it had suspended all premium rate phone-ins and interactive services – including its digital quiz channel Play TV which is a large revenue earner – whilst Deloitte conducts a review of the broadcaster’s procedures (see ITV Suspends Premium Rate Phone-Ins).

The broadcaster has asked Deloitte to prioritise shows, as it hopes to be able to air one of the shows hit by the suspension, Dancing On Ice, this Saturday.

Michael Grade, ITV executive chairman, said: “Our overall strategy is right, but we need to improve our allocation of resources in order to accelerate the rate of improvement across all our businesses.

“ITV is a hugely popular brand with the UK’s largest family of commercial channels, driven by quality programmes from the biggest and most successful commercial production business in the UK.

“This in turn enables us to extend our value chain with online distribution. These unique strengths in brand, content and distribution are cause for considerable optimism in our ability to deliver real value for our viewers, advertisers and shareholders.”

Meanwhile, reports in the trade press claim that ITV has told both Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading that it is concerned Sky’s 17.9% stake could give the satellite broadcaster too much voting power.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com