ITV losses/YTV shut down
Posted by: JamieL on 04 March 2009
Well ITV announced the news today that surprised no-one who has worked at Yorkshire TV's Kirstall studios over the last few years.
The main studios at Yorkshire TV will shut. 'Heartbeat' and 'The Royal' were axed last month. Emmerdale is a separate set-up these days, and will continue unaffected. Countdown can easily move to any studio.
The studios themselves are too close to Manchester to compete, and the investment in the Salford Quays area means there are better studios available only an hour away, and the same distance from London.
Although the current economic situation may have had some little affect on the ITV's financial situation, this really stems from the changes in broadcasting and the internet over the last few years, together with some stupendously stupid decisions by the previous management under Charles Allen.
With the spread of TV channels and the internet, ITV advertising revenues have shrunk continually over the last few years. Their soaps and game shows continue to get good audiences, and are cheap to produce, but other less profitable programmes are not viable for them any more.
ITV's management decisions over the Football League deal, failure to get into digital/satellite broadcasting until years after the other channels had become well established were the root of the losses. There was late and heavy investment in digital technology after the model had been established, which just threw millions down the drain.
Look at the brief ITV news channel, it came and went in a few months because BBC and Sky had already cornered that market years before.
Typical, also, was the buying of Friends Reunited website, several years after it was in its heyday, people had already moved on to FaceBook, etc. That is being sold off, presumably for another big loss in today's news.
Another problem goes way back to the selling of the ITV franchises back in the 80's. It was obvious that nearby companies would buy each other out, or merge. This lead to people like Charles Allen gaining control who were very good at doing such financial deals, but had no history (or interest) in making programmes.
Michael Grade is a great improvement as head of ITV, but has inherited a bad situation. He certainly will not be popular in Yorkshire in the future, but I do not think he had a great deal of option.
As far as I know ITV does not own the YTV studios, it rents them, so although they cost money to run, there is not a profit to be made from selling the land they are on.
It is a pity as ITV are a very good company to work for, but my regular client 'Children's ITV' was axed and became an independent company (or two) a couple of years ago, and they are shooting their next series in Salford Quays.
In case anyone is wondering about the BBC in Leeds, it is tiny, just a local news setup, they have always had Manchester as their Northern base.
The main studios at Yorkshire TV will shut. 'Heartbeat' and 'The Royal' were axed last month. Emmerdale is a separate set-up these days, and will continue unaffected. Countdown can easily move to any studio.
The studios themselves are too close to Manchester to compete, and the investment in the Salford Quays area means there are better studios available only an hour away, and the same distance from London.
Although the current economic situation may have had some little affect on the ITV's financial situation, this really stems from the changes in broadcasting and the internet over the last few years, together with some stupendously stupid decisions by the previous management under Charles Allen.
With the spread of TV channels and the internet, ITV advertising revenues have shrunk continually over the last few years. Their soaps and game shows continue to get good audiences, and are cheap to produce, but other less profitable programmes are not viable for them any more.
ITV's management decisions over the Football League deal, failure to get into digital/satellite broadcasting until years after the other channels had become well established were the root of the losses. There was late and heavy investment in digital technology after the model had been established, which just threw millions down the drain.
Look at the brief ITV news channel, it came and went in a few months because BBC and Sky had already cornered that market years before.
Typical, also, was the buying of Friends Reunited website, several years after it was in its heyday, people had already moved on to FaceBook, etc. That is being sold off, presumably for another big loss in today's news.
Another problem goes way back to the selling of the ITV franchises back in the 80's. It was obvious that nearby companies would buy each other out, or merge. This lead to people like Charles Allen gaining control who were very good at doing such financial deals, but had no history (or interest) in making programmes.
Michael Grade is a great improvement as head of ITV, but has inherited a bad situation. He certainly will not be popular in Yorkshire in the future, but I do not think he had a great deal of option.
As far as I know ITV does not own the YTV studios, it rents them, so although they cost money to run, there is not a profit to be made from selling the land they are on.
It is a pity as ITV are a very good company to work for, but my regular client 'Children's ITV' was axed and became an independent company (or two) a couple of years ago, and they are shooting their next series in Salford Quays.
In case anyone is wondering about the BBC in Leeds, it is tiny, just a local news setup, they have always had Manchester as their Northern base.