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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| ITV aims to be top UK entertainer | ITV aims to be top UK entertainer |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| ITV boss Michael Grade has unveiled plans aimed at making the broadcaster the UK's "favourite source of free entertainment" by 2012. | |
| It plans to double the amount it makes from its content to £1.2bn, but any extra spending will have to come from saving money throughout the business. | It plans to double the amount it makes from its content to £1.2bn, but any extra spending will have to come from saving money throughout the business. |
| The broadcaster aims to save between £35m and £40m a year, which will be reinvested in popular programming. | |
| Part of the savings will come from axing eight of its regional newsrooms. | |
| ITV plans to open negotiations with the regulator Ofcom about reducing the regional services - by cutting the number of newsrooms across the UK to nine from 17. | |
| I want ITV to be widely acknowledged as the UK's favourite source of free, original entertainment Michael Grade, executive chairman, ITV | |
| In a letter to staff, Mr Grade warned that the current set-up is not sustainable. | |
| Call-in competitions | |
| It has set ITV.com a target of delivering £150m in revenue by 2010. | |
| Also, scandal-hit ITV Play's remaining call-in competition programmes, that are broadcast late at night on ITV1 and ITV2, are to be scrapped. | Also, scandal-hit ITV Play's remaining call-in competition programmes, that are broadcast late at night on ITV1 and ITV2, are to be scrapped. |
| "Negative publicity following compliance problems across the sector has seen call volumes drop to uneconomic levels," ITV said. | "Negative publicity following compliance problems across the sector has seen call volumes drop to uneconomic levels," ITV said. |
| The ITV Play channel itself was taken off air in March after some of its competitions came under fire for being almost impossible to answer. | The ITV Play channel itself was taken off air in March after some of its competitions came under fire for being almost impossible to answer. |
| One quiz mentioned by Ofcom asked viewers to name 12 things that might be found in a woman's handbag. | |
| The correct answers included a balaclava and Rawlplugs. | |
| "By 2012, I want ITV to be widely acknowledged as the UK's favourite source of free, original entertainment across all popular platforms and devices, not just on television," Mr Grade said. | "By 2012, I want ITV to be widely acknowledged as the UK's favourite source of free, original entertainment across all popular platforms and devices, not just on television," Mr Grade said. |
| ITV said that trading is in line with expectations and that advertising revenues are continuing to improve. | ITV said that trading is in line with expectations and that advertising revenues are continuing to improve. |