[eccr] ITV bankruptcy creates media policy turmoil

ITV bankruptcy creates media policy turmoil
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ITV Digital, the world's biggest and most expensive digital terrestrial
TV project, was on Wednesday forced into bankruptcy, throwing government
broadcasting policy into turmoil and the future of lower league football
into doubt. Granada and Carlton Communications said they were "throwing
a lifeline" to their loss-making pay-TV platform, by putting the
business in the hands of administrators at Deloitte & Touche. It is
hoped that ITV Digital can be rescued as a slimmed-down company to
continue to compete with Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting in
the pay-TV market. 

Administrators will run the business as a going concern and Carlton and
Granada have committed funding during a process that is expected to last
weeks. If the administrators cannot renegotiate much cheaper content
deals - the biggest of which is with the Football League - ITV Digital
will be closed. Ministers admit privately it will make it difficult to
achieve the government's target of starting to switch off the analogue
signal to UK homes by 2006. Kim Howells, broadcasting minister, said:
"If the terrestrial platform was to collapse that would be a significant
setback though by no means a fatal one for our plans for digital
switchover." But he added: "We are sticking to our target because we
think switchover is achievable between 2006 and 2010."


Source: 
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3IYA58BZC&liv
e=true&tagid=ZZZLZDL1B0C - Financial Times

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