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ITV axes 600 jobs; big shows axed
Topic Started: Mar 4 2009, 01:21 PM (132 Views)
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This Morning and top dramas shelved as ITV axes 600 jobs in £575million cost cutting drive

* 600 jobs to go after ITV unveils £2.7bn loss
* Huge cut-backs in a bid to save £575million
* Sharpe, Heartbeat, The Royal, Wire In The Blood dumped
* This Morning could be taken off air over the summer
* Friends Reunited website will be sold off

ITV spending on top prime-time dramas is to be slashed in the biggest cutbacks in the broadcaster's 54-year history.

Top shows including Sharpe and Wire In The Blood have been dumped as it seeks to save almost £600million over the next three years.

The broadcaster has been crippled by a massive slump in advertising revenue and could even shelve its flagship This Morning show over the summer.

Its attempts to make huge savings were revealed as it announced a £2.7billion loss for last year and a fresh round of job cuts.

Some 600 posts, or 15 per cent of the workforce, will go.

Networking website Friends Reunited, which was bought for £120million in 2005, will be sold off as well as the online directory Scoot, and the shareholders' dividends have been suspended.

Programme budgets will be cut by £135million over the next two years, with drama production dropping from eight hours a week to seven.

Unions claim its drastic bid to cut costs will result in a main studio in Leeds being mothballed, with only Emmerdale made at the Yorkshire base.

It will lose 150 jobs as part of the latest cuts, with the rest mostly hitting workers in London.

One worker arriving at the Leeds studio today said: 'It's pretty gloomy in there but we'll have to wait and see what happens. No one has been told what jobs are going yet.'

Even long-standing shows such as The Bill will be affected but the cut-backs, with its slot moved from 8pm to 9pm and one less episode a week.

The changes mean the broadcaster's schedule will be dominated by 'feelgood' or reality entertainment, and are a total shift from chairman Michael Grade's vision of taking it more upmarket.

He promised in September 2007 when he took over that he would give the company a 'major facelift' with fewer repeats and more long-running drama series.

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the broadcasting workers' union Bectu, said he was 'outraged' at the new plans.

'We will do everything we can to protect our members and we will protest to Ofcom about ITV's claim to be investing more in programmes when they are cutting back,' he said.

'Michael Grade has abrogated his responsibility to ITV's staff. We desperately need a new management model.'

The union claimed the moves would see one-off drama programmes planned from this autumn would now be shelved.

ITV has struggled thanks to the collapse in advertising due to the recession but also because of increased competition, especially from the internet and digital channels.

It has been forced into a massive write-down in the value of its broadcasting and online businesses and breakfast division GMTV.

Even excluding their plunging value, the company's pre-tax profits for last year were almost half those in 2007 - down 41 per cent at £167million.

Media experts said the broadcaster was facing huge challenges responding to the massive shifts in media spending in the online age.

Martin McNulty of online marketing agency Trafficbroker, said: 'The shrink in ad revenues at ITV isn't simply the result of a global deterioration in the economy, but reflects a fundamental change in the mindset of advertisers.

'ITV's biggest competitor, these days, is Google and that's a major cause for concern.'

The broadcaster predicts advertising revenue will be down 17 per cent in the first quarter of this year. It expects to outperform the total market in April, when revenue is forecast to be down 20 per cent.

It is seeking to save £575million between now and 2011, starting off with £155million this year, £175million in 2010 and £245million in 2011.

Mr Grade said the latest cuts were down to the 'short-term horrors' of the recession, which have seen advertising revenues fall off a cliff.

He said: 'The tough actions we are taking have to be seen against that backdrop. These are unprecedented and extremely difficult times. We have to be focused more on our core business.'

The current conditions in the advertising market were the 'most challenging' he had experienced in more than 30 years in UK broadcasting, he added.

But he insisted the cut-backs would ensure ITV was well placed once the economy picks up again.

'Even in these difficult times, we should not lose sight of the progress the business has made.

'We are continuing to deliver our advertisers mass audiences night after night and are holding our share of audience and of television advertising.'

The broadcaster was today refusing to give details of the drama series which will be affected by the cuts, but many have already been shelved.

Heartbeat and its spin-off The Royal have been axed and new series Wire in the Blood and a remake of A Passage to India dumped.

Sean Bean's swashbuckling hero Sharpe will also not return due to the expense of filming abroad. A new show had originally been slated for South America.

The schedule will focus instead on proven hits including Britain's Got Talent, The X-Factor, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and I'm a Celebrity.

Flagship daytime show This Morning could also be taken off air this summer to save money.

Traditionally hosts Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton take seven to eight weeks off during the period and are replaced by stand-ins.

But insiders have admitted to the extraordinary plans to take the programme off air during the quiet summer months.

An ITV source said: 'We are looking everywhere to make savings. Daytime programming is going to take a hit.

'The summer period is traditionally very quiet – in the current climate it is perhaps not worth running This Morning when it is so quiet.’

It is understood the broadcaster will fill the two-hour slot between 10.30am and 12.30pm with repeats of classic drama.

The show has been on air since 1988, starting off in Liverpool with then-unknown presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan.

It moved to London in the late 1990s and became more focused on celebrity. Richard and Judy left in 2001.

Britton started guest-hosting on Fridays with John Leslie, who was replaced by Phillip Schofield in 2002 after which they became the main mosts.

Viewing figures reached a high of two million viewers daily but after Richard and Judy’s departure, they dipped to around one million.

Bosses have even proposed plans to the Government which could see ITV merge with Five and Channel 4.

There are also claims it could ditch a digital channel, either ITV4 or CiTV, and replaced it with a delayed broadcast of ITV1.

Meanwhile, ITV's pension deficit is growing by the year. It rose to £178million last year, up from £112million in 2007.

Its latest accounts reveal the board was paid almost £2.9million in 2008, including £100,000 for former HBOS chief and City adviser to the Government, Sir James Crosby, who worked for around 20 days as a non-executive director.

But executive director pay was frozen and there were no bonuses. Mr Grade was paid £934,000 last year but did not receive a bonus.

Today, he confirmed Heartbeat and The Royal were not being recommissioned but insisted ITV was not giving up on drama altogether.

He said: 'We will be winding down our stock position. Basically we already have two years of Heartbeat and Royal on the shelves so there is no point in making any more at the moment.

'We currently produce eight hours a week of original drama and that will come down to seven. This will not damage our ability to steam ahead when conditions turn around.'

http://www.mailonsunday.ie/news/article-1159102/This-Morning-dramas-shelved-ITV-axes-600-jobs-575million-cost-cutting-drive.html
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This is all bullshit, they don't even have loss, they have LESS PROFITS. This whole crisis is such a wicked trick from the powerful to get rid of people... ugh.
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