Commercial broadcaster, ITV is thought to have avoided the possible loss of £120 million in advertising revenue, predicted last summer due to a decline in audience share over 2004.
Under the terms of the Contracts Rights Renewal (CRR), put in place to protect agencies after the merger of Carlton and Granda, media agencies can take adspend to other broadcasters based on ITV’s performance in 2004, while keeping current share deals active.
ITV lost audience share last year, with ratings down, signalling problems for the broadcaster’s share of commercial impacts. It was feared that if the downwards trend continued into 2005 then ITV could have lost as much as £120 million in adspend (see ITV Could Face Ad Revenue Shortfall).
However, although some deals are still waiting to be agreed between agencies and ITV, the majority of end-of-year business negotiations between advertising networks and TV broadcasters has been done.
Industry consensus seems to suggest that ITV may stand to loose only between £50-£70 million; half of last year’s forecast. The outlook for 2005 also looks brighter with the broadcaster’s strong programme schedule attempting to hold onto its share.
ITV is currently in dispute with BSkyB over the satellite broadcasters proposed charge for the regionalisation of ITV’s channels on Sky’s digital satellite platform, arguing that the £17 million fee charged by Sky is too high (see Ofcom Investigating Sky Over Regional Charges). Government media regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation to look into the charges.
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