UTV News Output To Be Slashed

It has just been revealed that UTV's news output is indeed to be slashed - an anticipated development that has already seen senior journalists and presenters preparing to leave Havelock House.

As already mooted, a huge drop in the required level of regional news broadcasting is being proposed by today's final Public Service Broadcasting review document.

Ofcom's report gave the green light for ITV to dramatically scale back its PSB licence obligations, with cutting back regional news from five hours 20 minutes a week to just three hours 45 minutes as one of the main findings.

This is likely to mean dropping weekday mid-morning ITV regional bulletins and weekend lunchtime bulletins.

In a nod towards resolving ongoing 'credit-crunch' revenue problems It said the broadcaster's "modest licence benefits" should be "balanced by appropriate obligations on a sustainable basis.

The regulator therefore confirmed earlier plans to support ITV's demands over a financial strategy, including lessening its out-of-London commissioning quota and condensing its regional news bureaus from 17 to nine, shedding 429 jobs and cutting the number of regional non-news shows.

Northern Ireland's volume will therefore be reduced to two hours a week, but peaktime is to be protected at 45 minutes, while a further 30 minutes must be near peak.

ITV's overall 'out of London' commissioning quota has also been cut from 50% in volume and value to 35%.

In addition, the regulator recommended that the GMTV morning licence, which runs from 6am to 9.30am, should be merged into the regular 24-hour regional structure to "enhance the overall economics of the Channel 3 service", from 2014.

Other proposals put forward by Ofcom for ITV's future PSB requirements include halving the minimum volume of non-news non-network programmes in Wales and Scotland from 2009 from three hours to 1.5 hours per week

(BMcC/JM)