Nottingham backs ITV campaign

Thousands of Nottingham residents flocked to a union-organised music festival last week to support local ITV workers.

The event, organised by BECTU and the NUJ, was part of a campaign to stop ITV Central closing the Lenton Lane Studios in Nottingham with the loss of nearly 200 jobs and to halt the transfer of the news studio to Birmingham.

Five live bands and numerous other acts took part in the City Centre festival on May 22, including hilarious versions of Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Connolly, and there was a news reading competition for children.

20,000 people have now signed a petition to save the ITV Studios in the East Midlands. The petition will be presented to Tessa Jowell in the next few weeks.

BECTU met with Ofcom last week to argue against Central's proposal and continue to meet with ITV over the proposed job losses. In addition to 186 job losses in Birmingham, ITV are also proposing 175 redundancies in Birmingham.

BECTU National Official Nigel Mason said "The NotFromBrum Day in Nottingham on Saturday was clearly a great success, and the level of support for the petition is incredible. We can only hope that the Government, ITV, and the broadcasting regulator Ofcom are prepared to listen to the 20,000 people who have signed the petition. This is one piece of public consultation Ofcom should take notice of".