Union slams Ofcom approval of ITV regional cuts

Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has been condemned by Bectu for approving cuts in ITV regional programming.
In its recently published third review of public service television broadcasting, Ofcom confirmed the worst fears of staff across ITV by slashing the amount of non-news local programming the network is obliged to produce.
The current obligation for ITV licence holders to produce three hours a week in their local areas will be cut to one and a half hours, raising the threat of hundreds of job cuts.
"The regulator's decision to give the go-ahead to ITV to cut its non-news output in the English regions by half is a death blow to regional programming across the country. In-house features production for regional audiences is unlikely to survive today's announcement," said Bectu's Sharon Elliott.
"Since Ofcom launched the consultation on its plans last October, regional programmes have effectively been on a life-support machine," continued Elliott. "The announcement puts at risk an estimated 300 jobs. Contrary to Ofcom's thinking regional programmes, aside from news, are valued by regional audiences, despite the calculated cuts in budgets and airtime which have been intended to portray the sector as weak. Staff working on these programmes will be devastated."
Since the cut in regional output was first proposed late last year, Bectu has argued that Ofcom is failing in its brief, as far as ITV is concerned, to "maintain and strengthen the quality of PSB for the future."
Viewers, MPs, local authorities, programme makers and industry trade unions have all come together in recent months to seek to persuade Ofcom that there is an alternative viewpoint to ITV's and that regional programmes are a vital part of PSB and a key factor in delivering local democracy.
"The debate will continue, particularly in this key pre-election period, as will the fight to ensure that programmes for audiences in the Nations do not go the same way", said Elliott.
(GB)