ITV Share Price Soars Following Ofcom’s Review

ITV’s share price was up by more than 8% this morning, after Ofcom revealed that it proposes reducing ITV’s public service broadcasting commitments.

According to reports, ITV shares soared to 46.25p this morning and were trading at 45.75p at 10am, an 8.28% increase from yesterday’s close of 42.25p.

ITV has identified around £40 million of savings it hopes to make from the changes that were set out in Ofcom’s phase two review into PSB, which was released earlier today (see Ofcom Publishes Second Phase of PSB Review).

The review proposed that ITV should halve the amount of ‘non-news’ programmes it makes in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as scaling back regional news teams.

ITV released a statement welcoming Ofcom’s phase two paper, saying: “We have consistently argued that the regulatory costs and commercial benefits of holding the ITV plc licences need to be re-balanced between now and analogue switch off in 2012.”

“We welcome Ofcom’s acknowledgement of the need to strike the right balance between these costs and benefits, which is reflected in its proposals for ITV plc’s regional news services, regional non-news programmes and the Out of London quota.”

“The outcome of these reviews is also of crucial importance to ITV plc’s ability to sustain investment in UK production.”

Any changes to ITV’s PSB remit are subject to Ofcom’s consultation on the review, which runs from today until December 4.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk