Profit blow may hit Border's hopes

Last updated 21:26, Thursday, 07 August 2008

The business case for scrapping Border TV and scaling back Cumbrian news coverage on ITV appeared to be strengthened yesterday as ITV revealed a 28 per cent drop in profits.

And finally...?Helen Pearson and Tim Backshall, presenters of Border TV’s Lookaround, which could be under new threat after a slump in ITV’s profits

Chief executive Michael Grade, the man behind the plan to axe the Carlisle station and combine Border news output with Tyne Tees, said the results put the business under “fresh pressure”

ITV reported underlying profits of £91m, but wrote off £1.6bn from the value of broadcasting licences bought in 2000 and 2004.

That resulted in bottom-line losses of £1.54bn.

Shares – already half their value of a year ago – tumbled by more than 10 per cent. The company also warned it planned to carry out more job cuts.

Scrapping the nightly Lookaround news show, closing Border’s Harraby studio and laying off most of its staff are among a range of cost-cutting measures currently under review by regulator Ofcom.

The plans would see Border news output reduced to a six minute opt-out in a Newcastle-based programme.

Those proposals have subsequently been watered down, with the Lookaround brand retained and a 15-minute ‘opt-out’ instead of six.

But unions and Carlisle MP Eric Martlew have rejected the plans and vowed to continue fighting for Border to be preserved in its current form.