Ofcom’s plan to review commercial airtime rules in 2010 with an emphasis on deregulation clashes with the Competition Commission’s provisional decision to retain the Contract Rights Renewal remedy (CRR) as it is, other than to extend the ITV1 definition to include staggercast and HD variants

The core issue is that it is impossible to address UK commercial airtime rules in isolation from CRR, which strongly motivates all parties to sell 100% of their commercial airtime inventories, and is seen by many as exerting a strong deflationary pressure on TV advertising spend

Even without CRR, the Ofcom aim of being in a position to effect change from the start of 2011 looks optimistic. Increasingly, it seems that meaningful relaxation of the existing rules will require primary legislation in order to circumvent the continuing competition issues that have led to CRR

The issues surrounding ITV Digital are complex and unclear. This report tries to unpick the tangled threads. It looks at the main financial issues and the manoeuvres with the BBC, the Office of Fair Trading and the set-top box manufacturers.

This note has been prompted by a flurry of activity in UK television media: the renaming of ONdigital (‘ITV Digital’) and its absorption into the ITV mother ship; the launch of ITV Sport, a new pay-TV channel aimed at sports enthusiasts; the impending final results of BSkyB (‘Sky’) on 25th July 2001 (dealt with in a separate note issued on 20th July) and the renewed concerns over the funding of the UK cable companies.

ITV Digital itself stresses the importance of thinking about the 'platform' and its associated channel, ITV Sport separately. ITV Digital and its shareholders, Carlton and Granada, are highly optimistic about the future performance of the platform. We look at each of the many reasons for optimism that they have advanced. There is strength in many of their arguments, but we still see their breakeven target as very difficult to achieve.

This note considers the so-called 'digital dividend' in light of the recent ITV licence renewals.

The UK online population reached 17 million in February 2001, up around one-quarter on the year, on the strength of rising participation of women (to 44% of users) and of young people. We expect 4 million users to be added to the online population by February 2002, to reach 21 million, with growth at a lower rate than in 2000.