End of the days of a strong regional accent

FOR THOSE who have long predicted that ITV would eventually become a single commercial entity, the merger between Carlton and United is just another step towards the inevitable.

From a purely business viewpoint, a federal system with an awkward central commissioning process has always hampered ITV's competitive flexibility.

But what about programming?

The regional nature of the ITV system did not emerge accidentally, but was the result of some careful strategic thinking about the kind of commercial television that might best serve the nation. The result was 15 individual licences in 14 regions (two in London, to ensure that no single company became too powerful in such a lucrative market), and a philosophy that each franchise should be rooted in and should serve its community.

Local news and local pro-grammes were not just an inconvenient add- on but an integral part of each company's pro-gramme portfolio.

Of course, those were the days when money flowed freely from ITV's monopoly of TV advertising, when Rupert Murdoch was still confined to newspapers, when Channel Five did not exist, and digital was something you did with your fingers.

In-house producers and technical staff were paid generously, and no one quibbled about the duplicated overheads of 15 sets of regional offices and administration. Regional broadcasting was about reflecting and serving the local community, partly because it could afford to be and partly because that was the culture which had been fostered from the earliest years.

What is extraordinary is the speed with which the business logic has overwhelmed that programming philosophy. It is barely six years - November, 1993 - since the then Secretary of State Peter Brooke announced that takeovers within ITV would be allowed.

Within a week, Michael Green had taken effective control of Central Television, and the original 15 licences were progressively whittled down to three major players.

Despite occasional expressions of disapproval from the Independent Television Commission, commitment to regional news and programmes has shifted from a vital ingredient of ITV programming to an insignificant sideshow designed mostly to keep the regulator quiet.

Meanwhile, the notion of regional companies reflecting their own area has been consigned to the cultural dustbin.

The impact is probably felt less in London, where there is a much more diverse and geographically disparate community, than in other regions where regional identities are more keenly felt.

What of the future? The question of a single ITV is now a matter of when it will happen and who will be boss rather than whether.

Undoubtedly, it will produce a powerful commercial competitor able to make "efficiency" savings to plough back into pro-grammes (and of course be significantly more profitable for shareholders).

In global terms, it will still be dwarfed by the likes of Time- Warner and News Corporation.

In the meantime, one of the founding principles of the ITV system has been finally laid to rest and leaves behind a huge cultural gap in programming aimed at local communities rather than mass markets.

Steven Barnett is senior lecturer in communications at the University of Westminster

Copyright 1999
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