Ofcom will recommend for ITV to regain morning slot

Ofcom will recommend that the ITV breakfast television franchise, which is now owned by GMTV, should be restored to ITV to help the commercial broadcaster to shore up its finances this week.

The media regulator is expected to argue that allowing ITV to keep hold of the franchise will help the broadcaster to pay for its public service obligations when it publishes its PSB review on Wednesday.

GMTV has owned the lucrative franchise since 1990 after it was put out to tender – making profits of around £14 million last year, according to reports.

ITV currently has a 75% stake in GMTV, with the remaining 25% owned by Disney but if Ofcom’s recommendation to abolish the breakfast licence goes ahead, ITV will regain complete control over the 6am to 9.30am part of its schedule.

GMTV has more than 1 million viewers and around a 26% share of viewers during its morning slot, which provides advertisers with an easy way to target an significantly high female audience.

At the moment, the company sells its own advertising but merging its sales department with ITV’s would save millions of pounds, with the overall saving for ITV predicted to total tens of millions of pounds each year.

ITV has argued that its morning slot was franchised in an era of buoyant profits and minimal competition, at a time when it could afford to lose the slot.

However, ITV’s chairman Michael Grade admits that the broadcaster is struggling now due to competition from more channels and the deteriorating ad market.

ITV has given Ofcom guarantees that it will continue to honour the current conditions of the franchise, which state that some airtime must be reserved for news on weekdays and children’s programming on Saturday mornings.

Disney is expected to be unhappy about Ofcom’s recommendation, as it has invested heavily in the GMTV brand over the years.

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