ITC publish 'Annual Report and Accounts' for 2001

The ITC have published their 'Annual Report and Accounts' for the year ending December 2001. The report contains an analyses of the severe financial pressures on the commercial sector, evaluates its public commitments to produce a rich genre mix of programming and looks at the latest trends in public tastes.
In the report, ITC chief noted the significant progress made in creating a ‘digital Britain’ – with around 40% of homes in the UK now currently connected to digital services. This number was in spite of both NTL and ITV Digital pursuing fundamental restructuring of their businesses from the turn of the year. According to the ITC, there was considerable resilience in the sector and an increasing consumer appetite for new media.
Chief Executive, Patricia Hodgson CBE, said: “Last year was a watershed for British broadcasting. It began with high expectations of new technologies and services on a global scale. It ended with a worldwide recession that hit both telecommunications and broadcasting hard.
"Two things became clear - the old world of restricted choice was dead, but good television, in the age of new media choices, was more central to success than many had expected.”
The ITC gave particular praise to the commercial TV news organisations (ITN, GMTV and Sky) for their response to the events of September 11. The most comprehensive coverage was on Sky News, a reminder that high quality does not come solely from those channels that are committed to this by their licences. Teletext was also used by many to keep in touch with developments and as a source of background information.
The most serious sanction imposed by the ITC in 2001 was a fine of £100,000 for LWT for breaches of the product placement rules in the ITC Sponsorship Code in the series 'Club@vision'. Channel 4 were asked to broadcast an apology for the inadequacy of the opening announcement before 'Brass Eye', as it had failed to prepare viewers for what was to follow.
The ITC upheld wholly, or in part, 1,228 complaints relating to 40 programmes in 2001. There were 4,650 complaints about programme content in 2001 (compared with 3,912 in 2000), 992 of which related to 'Brass Eye' (the most complained-about programme in 2001).
The number of complaints about violence, sexual portrayal and language all fell during 2001. According to the ITC, all complaints should be viewed in wider context of three million hours of television being broadcast annually by all ITC licensees.
Copies of the ITC 'Annual Report and Accounts' are available from the ITC information office, or can be downloaded from the website, www.itc.org.uk
(GMcG)