Interview: ITV Chairman Speaks-Out On ITC

In an interview with Newsline, Leslie Hill, chairman of the ITV Network Centre, was quick to defend ITV against the criticisms thrown at it by the ITC this week (see Newsline).

Hill pointed out that the ITC praised much of the work broadcast by the ITV last year. “I strongly dispute the ITC’s claim that ITV’s schedule is lacking in diversity,” said Hill, “and to say that drama is squashing out other programme genre’s is ridiculous. At the end of the year, ITV fulfilled its quota of entertainment, religious and educational programming for 1996.”

Overall, Hill seemed to feel that ITC had been unfair in its treatment towards ITV. He believes the report serves to illustrate his claim that ITV is subject to far more regulation than the other terrestrial channels, and unnecessarily so.