2. Funding Stream
• BskyB own 17.9% of ITV
• This makes it the largest shareholder in the company
• This gives BskyB the opportunity to dictate ITV strategies
• BskyB have BskyB heavily criticised by The CC (competition complaints)
• They have urged John Hutton(secretary of Business and enterprise)to tells sky to
sell their shares to increase competition .
• The CC have argued that because BSkyB can dictate policies it will cause BskyB to
take advantage of rights of certain programs and other businesses owned by ITV.
• An example of the power struggle is; GMTV dispute with BSkyB. They argued over
the phrase “sunrise” which is used in both TV shows.
• Sky won the dispute with many stating that because sky was seen as more
“superior.”
• ITV has always had different investors who fund the company. Some of the
investors are;
– STV group
– channel television
3. The Values
• The official ITV website clearly gives its values which
are;
– Commitment
– Boldness
– Integrity
– Excellence
– Commercial
– Lead
However, some critics have stated that ITV’s values are
illegitimate. An example of some values are;
– poorly constructive television programs
– Lack of loyalty
4. Political Affiliation
It’s very hard to say where they stand Politically
It is never said where they stand, it is only suggested
by there actions
What OFCOM Say described by Ofcom as having a "completely inadequate compliance
system" as demonstrated by the programmes they made and complied
including Soapstar Superstar, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
and Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon,“
5. An ITV plc source said that compliance should not be seen
as a money-spinner and should be aimed at ensuring
programmes were of a high standard.
"Compliance should not be a competitive, free market
business. The fact that Channel see it that way should
send alarm bells ringing across the industry," the ITV
source added.
Who has the real influence and power within ITV ?
Does OFCOM actually do much or at all influence ITV
OFCOM have very little influence at all. The main funders of ITV are ‘bSkyb aka
Rupert Murdoch, Channel TV and the STV Group’ … Each of these companies
are large Corporate and Capitalist companies. The fact is, that OFCOM do
indeed fine the ITV channel, but there are limits to what they can fine for
instance. So by ITV actually breaking the rules, but not to much, they make
MUCH more money. For instance.
Channel TV, the ITV licence holder for the Channel Islands, has qualifying
revenue of about £4m, and Ofcom could only impose of maximum fine of
£200,000.
6. The regulator fined ITV a record £5.675m last year, for "seriously and repeatedly
misleading its audience" on 86 separate occasions over four years, causing
viewers to waste £7.8m on premium rate calls. But they still made £7.8m. So they
made over £2m anyway and these were on shows such as Ant and Dec where
they have been heavily criticized for breaking OFCOM regulations anyway. It also
took OFCOM FOUR years to actually take proper action.
ITV are also quite famous for there “phone line” game shows. They are actually very
clever and there have been cases of people spending up to £3000 by playing them.
They have been sued on several occasions, but for a single person, rich or not it’s
incredibly difficult to face a law suit against a large multi national corporation. The
main argument for ITV is that they do state the rules and regulations on screen and
also the cost of playing.
7. To Conclude, there is no real SET Political Affiliation within ITV. The reasons being that ITV
it’s self, seems to be interested in making quality TV and not so much about making massive
amounts of money. But all of it’s funders are, and ITV funds it’s self actually very little.
Which means nearly all the influence and money comes from big multi nationals going back
to Ibby’s point of ‘bSkyb’ being “superior”.
A very good example of proving this point is actually through a show such as “X-factor” … X-
factor is an INCREDIBLY commercial show, although it’s very expensive to make, if you think
about how many people across Britain and also the world watch it. For advertisers to put
there adverts in the breaks, it costs them massive amounts. Similar to the way in that the
“SUPERBOWL” American football in the USA can cost advertisers up to a $1 Million to have
there adverts on the main screen. Not only this, but if you look at the locations that the
best singers go into, for instance this year, Morocco, Dubai, Los Angelis and Italy, they are all
very shown off and commercialised for tourism reasons. The countries tourist boards would
have to bid or even have to pay for the show to be held there in order to attract large
amounts of tourism from Britain.
Another thing that ITV last year was HEAVILY criticized for was that on a show like x-factor
or Britain's got talent. When the winners were on tour, they actually got paid very little and
were being charged for things by ITV for things like accommodation. This seems very unfair
considering the show and company has just made £Millions.
8. Global Positioning, Brands and
Products
• ITV has recently launched ‘Coronation Street’ branded products including a PC
game, branded T-shirts and even a girls of Coronation street calendar to mark the
50th anniversary of the well acclaimed British TV show.
• ITV Studios Global Entertainment said: "Coronation Street is the UK’s most
consistent and best rating television drama, an incredibly powerful and exciting
proposition for consumer product ideas. Together, we’re bringing to life television’s
most loved characters through compelling and high-quality product extensions.“
• ITV Global Entertainment Ltd announce EIGHT major merchandise and licensing
deals for the #1 rating teen and young peoples musical drama, Britannia High.
• ITV Global Entertainment has joined forces with eight of the UK’s leading licensee’s
to create a unique range of clothing and lifestyle products, extending the teen
popularity of the series into ‘must have’ product. The Britannia High consumer
products collection features lifestyle and dress-up fashion inspired by the shows
six on-screen characters – including the character Lola’s iconic ‘union flag’ dress.
9. ITV is a producer of entertainment on a global level
• Unlike practically all of the TV channels in the United Kingdom, ITV is not owned by
one single company, although it has come close to becoming so in recent years.
• Its legal name has been Channel 3, the number 3 having no real meaning other
than to distinguish it from BBC One, BBC Two and Channel 4 - prior to this, the
network had no legal overall name.
