ITV TO CHALLENGE ITC’S DIRECTION IN COURT

ITV has revealed that they have been granted permission for a judicial review over a long-running dispute with television regulator the Independent Television Commission (ITC) regarding the timing of the 'Nightly News'.
The review, which is to take place before the end of September, is expected to bring an end to the ongoing dispute between both sides.
In July the ITC issued a 'legally binding' directive demanding ITV to move the 'Nightly News' following a near-14 per cent drop in viewing figures.
Network bosses have been granted permission for a judicial review over the ITC’s direction that they should move the 11.00pm ITV Nightly News to an earlier time slot.
Since 'News at Ten' was scrapped last year the ongoing debate will now be reignited with the final decision being determined by a judge.
Mr Justice Owen gave a written direction approving ITV's appeal for a judicial review last week but it has only now been made public by the network.
A brief statement said: “ITV today confirmed that it has been granted a judicial review of the ITC direction regarding the scheduling of the ITV Nightly News.
“The judge has made an order for expedition and directed that the hearing shall not be any later than the end of September.”
News of the High Court challenge comes just over a month after the ITC issued a "legally-binding direction" to ITV to bring forward the news, and four weeks after the network applied for a judicial review to challenge that ruling.
An ITC spokeswoman said: “We obviously knew ITV had applied for a judicial review and we wouldn't challenge their right to do so.
“In our direction, we said that the scheduling change should happen in the week beginning December 4, which in terms of TV scheduling isn't that far away, so we are looking forward to getting this matter sorted out next month.”
Since ‘News at Ten’ was scrapped, ITV has come under fire from top politicians and veteran journalists for its falling news ratings.
The original hope was that uninterrupted films and dramas, which could not be shown under the old-style schedule, would boost audience numbers.
But while viewing figures at certain times have risen, contributing to a £100 million increase in advertising revenue, those for ITV's news bulletins have fallen by up to 13.9%.
At a special inquiry earlier this year, Gerald Kaufman, chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, accused network bosses of “throwing away” two million viewers for the sake of the extra advertising money.
A series of proposals put forward by network chiefs, including moving or extending the 11.00pm bulletin on key occasions, have been consistently turned down by the ITC.
ITV then challenged the ITC and refused to cohere with their request.
The ITC has never encountered this situation where their decision however they have not yet lost a judicial review.