A BIG BILL FOR SMALL SCREEN
ITV is to pump nearly £2.2billion into programmemaking over the next two years.
The broadcaster behind Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Love Island and Coronation Street is upping its budget to more than £1bn in 2018, in part because of this year’s World Cup.
The firm is banking on the tournament after blaming “ongoing economic and political uncertainty” for a 5% fall in advertising revenues. Profits were down 6% to £800million.
But ITV Studios, its programme-making arm, saw revenues jump 13% and its share of all viewers rose for the second year in a row, up 2%.
Boss Carolyn McCall said it showed free-to-air broadcasters could compete with online rivals. She said: “If you have live sport and great drama then live TV is very robust and resilient.”
ITV is also making shows for Netflix and Facebook. The results, which triggered a fall in ITV’s share price, came a day after US cable giant Comcast launched a shock £22bn bid for Sky. McCall said: “I think everybody is having a look at everybody.”