Though it’s not clear that anything much has changed, to be honest. The Media Guardian reports that OFCOM has rejected ITV’s request to drop CITV from terrestrial broadcast:
“The Ofcom board declined a proposal from ITV plc for a significant change in the volume of children’s programmes on ITV1,” said a spokesman for the regulator.
However, it’s not clear that anything much changes as a result. CITV on ITV1 will remain at an hour a day, and it seems highly unlikely that any more new programming will be commissioned for 2007. Result: there’s no discernible production industry. Hmm.
Still, it’s interesting that OFCOM haven’t just rolled over and rubber-stamped ITV’s request. There’s a bit of editorial from Media Guardian here, but nothing of any real substance. However, this story suggests that the regulator may be taking a tougher line:
Mr [Philip] Graf, who heads Ofcom’s content board, chided shareholders, saying the company’s [ITV’s] salvation from its ratings and advertising revenue woes was “largely in their own hands rather than the regulator’s gift”.