PM lobbied as ITV crisis grows
BECTU has urged Tony Blair to defend programme choice and quality on ITV.
Union concerns about the future of ITV have been raised within the last fortnight by a series of announcements underlining the cash crisis caused by a drop in advertising income.
In a letter outlining the union's views on the Communcations White Paper, the prime minister is urged to continue with an ITV licensing system that guarantees a full range of programmes, including regional output.
The union call for standards to be maintained through government regulation was made in response to the lobbying campaign by ITV companies for ownership rules to be relaxed.
Company executives hope to cut costs by continuing mergers of regional ITV licences - a process that has already led to hundreds of job losses.
BECTU has expressed concern about further centralisation of ITV - the channel is effectively controlled by two large companies at present - and believes that any changes in ownership rules should be accompanied by a firm requirement for diverse, top-quality, programmes.
Carlton and Granada, the dominant forces in ITV, are suffering income problems on two fronts - the collapse of advertising income caused by the world economic slowdown, and the costs of keeping the loss-making ITV digital service going.
Savings measures announced by ITV and cable companies recently include:
- Carlton TV has announced a 12-month pay freeze for all staff and directors, ruling out any chance of an annual rise being paid this November, the pay anniversary date. BECTU has called for an urgent meeting with Chief Executive Clive Jones to discuss the situation.
- Ideal Homes, a cable channel which does not recognise BECTU for collective bargaining, has announced 20 redundancies. For some time the union has been working towards recognition at the company, and the management have been asked to discuss the job cuts with officials.
- Breeze, a Granada channel transmitted on ITV Digital, is cutting 90 jobs after the parent company revealed a 10% drop in profits.
- Well-being Channel, another ITV Digital service based at Yorkshire TV, is in discussion with BECTU over 80 redundancies. Although the channel will stay on air, all new programme production will cease, and the 30 remaining staff will concentrate on re-versioning programmes from other companies.
- Money Channel, which folded earlier this summer, has finally agreed an interim payment of £500 to staff who were given only a few hours notice that the company was going into liquidation. BECTU had threatened legal action against the management, and several of union-supported industrial tribunals are still pending while efforts continue to win full severance payments for members.
Letter to Tony Blair
Rt Hon Tony Blair, MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
LONDON SW1A
Dear Prime Minister,
COMMUNICATIONS WHITE PAPER
I am writing as BECTU's senior official with responsibility for broadcasting to inform you of the views of the thousands of our members employed by the ITV companies.
We are aware of the representations being made by some senior ITV executives seeking early relaxation of ownership regulations. We recognise the changing context and the need for ITV to compete in an ever more competitive market place.
However the starting position for any reform should be to ensure that democracy, programme quality and the distinctive feature of ITV regional structure are not compromised. Viewers now have the opportunity to watch over 20 channels. ITV1 is the only channel with a regional remit, and the white paper should maintain this remit.
Broadcasting generally is too centralised in the capital and if your Government were persuaded to relax the ownership rules for ITV then steps must be taken to ensure that there is no further dilution of ITV's regional charter. This could be achieved by ensuring that primary legislation included a requirement on licence holders to deliver:
- a full range of programming, including news output;
- a minimum level of network production from each franchise holder;
- a range of regional production facilities, including a commitment to employing a significant number of regional based staff.
We hope you will take note of our views in the further development of policy on this issue.
Yours sincerely,
GERRY MORRISSEY
Assistant General Secretary