Ofcom fines ITV £220,000

Media regulator Ofcom has fined ITV £220,000 for failing to meet its regional programme production quota for ITV1 in 2006 and 2007.

Ofcom ordered ITV to pay a fine of £20,000 against each of its 11 regional licences in England and Wales after it failed to hit its minimum level of expenditure.

ITV1 managed to comply with the 50% volume quota but didn’t meet Ofcom’s minimum of 50% proportion of spend on productions sourced outside of London – it only reached 45.6% in 2006 and 44.3% in 2007.

Scottish broadcaster STV has also been fined £10,000 – £5,000 each for its two ITV licenses – by the regulator for the same offence.

The other two independent ITV companies, Ulster broadcaster UTV and Channel TV, have been fined £5,000 each – all three broadcasters air ITV1 network programming such as Coronation Street, which is bought in from ITV plc.

Ofcom said it considered the failures to be a “serious breach” of the regional production quota system, which is a requirement of ITV’s public service broadcasting licence.

Meanwhile, Ofcom is due to publish its final PSB report next week, stating whether ITV has been successful in its request to have its PSB licence obligations significantly reduced, which will include its out-of-London quota.

The regulator’s provisional report suggested allowing ITV’s fixed quota for programmes produced outside of London to be cut from 50% to just 35%.

Michael Grade, ITV executive chairman, said: “This fine is yet more clear evidence that the regulatory burden on ITV is 20 years out of date. Our duty is to invest as efficiently as possible in UK production, not to be an instrument of governmental industrial policy or social engineering.”

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