Granada and Carlton to align ITV and ONdigital

Carlton Communications Plc and Granada plc today announced proposals for a new partnership toalign ITV and ONdigital – creating an integrated free-to-air, pay television and online mediabusiness.

Harnessing one of the most powerful brands in the UK, the new ITV will include ITV, ITV2, anew ITV Sport Channel to launch in August, ONdigital, which will be renamed ITV Digital andITV.com, which launches later this year.

Aligning Carlton and Granada’s ITV assets will allow more effective management and isexpected to yield total cost efficiencies for the two companies together of £20m per annumin the second full year.

Stuart Prebble will be appointed Chief Executive of ITV with overall responsibility for ITVfree-to-air and pay channels and ITV.com.

Rob Fyfe will be appointed Managing Director of ITV Digital.

David Liddiment will continue to be ITV Director of Programmes and, as ITV Director ofChannels, will assume wider editorial responsibility for ITV digital channels.

Charles Allen, Chairman of Granada plc, said: “This is the most fundamental change in British broadcasting since the launch of multi-channel television. Granada and Carlton have forged a new partnership in ITV, the UK’s most popular television channel, and are now bringing together the tremendous brand strength of ITV with the UK’s digital terrestrial broadcasting platform.”

Michael Green, Chairman of Carlton Communications Plc, said: “ITV will now leapfrog the BBC and Sky with this new partnership. A combined free-to-air and pay television audience of 50 million viewers a week offered entertainment, the Internet and e-commerce is a world first.”

New ITV Structure

Under these proposals, ITV will operate three businesses – ITV Channels, ITV Digital and ITV.com,supported by common service functions.

ITV Channels

ITV Channels will encompass ITV and ITV’s digital channels. A new premium pay sports channel, ITV Sport Channel, will launch in August. It will combine ITV and ONdigital sports rights, including 330 football matches, of which more than 150 will be live. It will have UEFA Champions League, Nationwide Football League and Worthington Cup games as well as linking to 40 live Premier League matches and ATP tennis. ITV will continue to offer the best free-to-air sport and entertainment content.

ITV Digital

ONdigital will be re-branded ITV Digital and become ITV’s pay television platform, leveraging the strength of the ITV brand. Having achieved 1 million subscribers faster than any comparable platform, ONdigital announced today that it added a net 75,000 subscribers in the quarter to 31st March 2001, giving it a total subscriber base of 1.087 million. Its current churn rate of 22 per cent per annum is lower than all other pay television operators at an equivalent point from launch.

ITV Digital’s strategy is to improve consumer loyalty, increase revenue per subscriber and reduce acquisition costs. This strategy will be delivered through:

• Rapidly improving geographic coverage, which will reach 70 per cent of the UK within the next three months. Coverage will be further enhanced by the announcement this week that the government will facilitate improvements to the quality of digital reception by doubling the power of the signal strength, initially at 8 of the key transmitters serving many of the major urban areas; and
• Enhancing content with additional services, including a compelling sports offering as the launch of the ITV Sport Channel adds to the channel line-up and new pay per view and interactive services are introduced.

This will enable ITV Digital to build a loyal and established customer base as the business continues to grow towards planned break-even in 2003/4 with 1.7 million subscribers.

ITV.com

ITV.com will create a unified online home for all ITV entertainment and interactivity. It will integrate itv.co.uk, as well as Granada and Carlton’s ITV online properties, such as Coronationstreet.co.uk, Emmerdale.co.uk and Crossroadshotel.co.uk. Taken together, these existing Carlton and Granada services already generate over 20 million page impressions per month and will create one of the UK’s top ten entertainment sites.

ITV.com will also feature online properties like Who Wants to be a Millionaire? games for solo and multiple players, national tournaments and synchronised “live” games. Who Wants to be a Millionaire? online has achieved some 45 million page impressions in the first three weeks since launch.

Online events, celebrity chats, audio and video streaming, listings information, e-mail, SMS messaging, chat rooms, consumer polls and a search facility are also planned as part of ITV.com. Through an enhanced range of information, entertainment and interactive services, extensive cross promotion and with access to almost 50 million viewers, ITV.com expects to become one of the UK’s overall top ten favourite sites.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Gerry Murphy, Chief Executive of Carlton Communications, said: “This will give more choice to consumers, allow more creative opportunities for producers, and provide better value for advertisers – the potential here is huge.”

Steve Morrison, Chief Executive of Granada plc, said:“This agreement will fuel the growth and evolution of ITV and unlock the full potential of our assets in the digital age. ITV’s strong content brands, like Coronation Street, Popstars, Survivor and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? will be exploited across all distribution channels, making ITV the home of entertainment for everyone, everywhere.”

Stuart Prebble, Chief Executive of ITV, said: “This is great news for viewers, advertisers and for the future of digital television in the UK. ITV will continue to offer viewers the best free-to-air sport and entertainment and now a clear and trusted brand to lead them to the digital and online world.

“For advertisers, ITV channels will offer more commercial impacts and greater opportunities to buy advertising and sponsorship packages across free-to-air, pay and online platforms.

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to lead ITV, one of the UK’s most powerful consumer brands, at the most exciting time in its development.”

ITV Sport Channel goes to the heart of Football

ITV starts countdown to new sport channel launch in August

A new pay TV sports channel that will offer the very best in European club football and revolutionise domestic coverage for millions of fans was unveiled today by ITV.

The new ITV Sport Channel not only represents the first ever sports offering to break the Sky stranglehold on how Britons watch premium sport, it has the strength, reputation and popularity of the country’s most respected sports broadcaster, ITV Sport, firmly behind it.

Launching in August, the premium channel will be available through ONdigital which is to be renamed ITV Digital.

A top quality line-up including more than 150 live football matches each season will make up what is a major development in televised sport. There will be unrivalled live coverage from the world’s most prestigious club competition – the UEFA Champions League, ground-breaking coverage of the Nationwide League and the excitement of The Worthington Cup.

The UEFA Champions League has become the pinnacle of competitive football in Europe and will provide the cornerstone of the new channel with unrivalled coverage of live matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the competition’s 17-week format.

This season’s competition has provided some spectacular moments and big-time football occasions with Leeds United still on course to emulate Manchester United’s winning performance in 1999. Live action from the UEFA Champions League will remain on free-to-air ITV throughout the 17 Wednesdays of the competition and the network will continue to provide highlights action on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The new channel will combine live football with feature-led programming to give viewers the complete UEFA Champions League picture. Alongside the UEFA Champions League coverage, the ITV Sport Channel will also launch the most comprehensive commitment to the Nationwide League yet seen on British television. With a total of 80 live matches to be screened on Thursdays and Sundays, the new channel will raise the profile and extend the experience enjoyed by millions of followers of English football’s original league competition.

With a diet of live matches, extensive highlights, intelligent and informed analysis, club and player profiles and other innovative feature programming, the ITV Sport Channel will provide the depth and quality of coverage that the Nationwide League has not enjoyed before.

Among the comprehensive package of programming being developed is a Saturday evening highlights showcase dedicated to the Nationwide League’s First Division. It will enable fans to have the chance to see all the goals, extended highlights and extensive analysis from that afternoon’s games.

The channel will also show separate in-depth highlights shows for the Second and Third Divisions.

A total of 15 major Worthington Cup ties will also be shown live. It is midweek cup football played to a finish – under floodlights – and down the years has provided some great moments and matches. It guarantees European football for its winner.

Coverage of the Nationwide League and Worthington Cup will also be enjoyed by ITV’s free-to-air viewers at network and regional level. Although the new channel will major on football from its birth, it also has plans to embrace some other popular domestic and global sport. World championship boxing, ATP Masters Tennis, and Champions Cup snooker are part of the debut line-up.

The channel will have also at its disposal the best presentation, reporting, production and technical team in British sports television. Already providing top quality coverage on ITV, their collective talent will provide a sense of authority, style, flair and excitement for the channel.

Brian Barwick, ITV’s Controller of Sport since 1998, will take editorial control of the new channel. He said: “This is a fantastic development for ITV. The twin strike force of ITV’s existing top class terrestrial sports coverage and a new dedicated premium channel is a winning combination.”

“The channel will be ‘football rich’ with live football at its very core. The UEFA Champions League provides fantastic football occasions with the best players in the world on view. Nearer to home we have in-depth coverage of the Nationwide League. Combined, they will get to the heart and soul of the game. “We are to enter a unique integration of free-to-air and premium sports television which will allow us to play to our maximum strengths and the viewer will be the winner.” “With the launch of the premium channel in August and ITV’s Premiership coverage due to start in the same month, things have never been as exciting or as challenging for us here at ITV Sport.”

Nick Atkins, ONdigital’s Director of Programmes, who will have day-to-day control over the channel said: “As well as superb coverage of the Champions League, this channel will bring the kind of intelligent, entertaining and informative programming that fans of Nationwide League clubs deserve. It is set usher in a new era for the Football League fan.

“This is the first premium sports channel to enter the televison sport arena in a decade and it will make a huge impact.”

Stuart Prebble, Chief Executive of ITV said: “Over the last four years ITV Sport has become the most powerful, popular and compelling sports broadcaster in the UK. From the Champions League to Formula 1 and from next season Premiership football, the line-up is formidable.

“And now the ITV Sport Channel joins the team adding and revolutionising the Nationwide League, bringing more from Europe’s finest clubs as well as the Worthington Cup and other top drawer sport.

“This new channel could not have a better pedigree. Its scheduling, quality and promotional strength will fit hand in glove with what many millions of sports fans already enjoy and expect from ITV.”

News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2001.