ITC CONFIRM FINAL REGIONAL LICENCE RENEWALS

THE ITC have confirmed that they have granted renewals to the licences held by Border, Central, Channel, Grampian, Granada, LWT and Scottish for a ten-year period beginning April 1, 2001.
This follows the submission of formal applications for licence renewal and confirmation from the licencees that they have now accepted the terms proposed by the ITC.
The ITC announced the financial terms offered to these licensees on March 19, 2001. Anglia renewed their licence from January 1, 2000 and the remaining eight licencees (GMTV, HTV, Meridian, Tyne-Tees, Yorkshire, Ulster, Westcountry and Carlton) were previously renewed on 1 January 1999.
Sir Robin Biggam, ITC Chairman, welcomed the renewal of the final seven of the 16 Channel 3 licences. He said: “The fairer basis of licence payments will ensure that licensees can continue to provide an excellent range and quality of national and regional services in an increasingly competitive market. There is now a firm basis for ITV going forward over the next ten years.”
Out of this round of license renewals, Granada were judged the biggest winners when regulators renewed ITV licences at rates lower than market expectations.
In 2002 Granada will pay £4.1 million for their Granada Licence and 15 per cent of qualifying advertising revenues. For their LWT licence they will pay £4.9 million up front and 17 per cent of analogue revenues.
The current cash sum in 2001 is £11 million for Granada and £9 million for the London based station LWT. (CD)