ITV Chairman Claims To Be Satisfied At First AGM

ITV’s Chairman, Sir Peter Burt, today announced that the group is continuing to perform satisfactorily and advertising revenues for April and May are expected to rise by 2.5%.

A statement of the first ITV Annual General Meeting shows that ITV1 advertising revenues in quarter one 2004 remained unchanged from the same period last year. ITV2 had grown by 50%, but overall total net advertising was up only 1%.

Viewing in both analogue and multi-channel homes is up 1.5% and share adult commercial impacts for Q1 was 42.7%, showing no change over the whole of 2003.

Burt pointed to the success of new programmes, such as the William and Mary and Life Begins dramas, as well as popular long running programmes like Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

Speaking of the Carlton and Granada merger, Burt said: “The integration of the two programme production businesses is progressing well and the division has been branded ‘Granada’. We are on track to deliver the £100 million of cost savings and to achieve that run rate by the end of 2005.”

During Burt’s first month as ITV chairman, he has been meeting with executives across the business to help understand the issues the newly-enlarged company faces. Burt added: “I have been impressed with the quality of the management team and how they are driving the business forward at the same time as implementing a detailed and complex merger plan with such speed.”

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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