By Chris, Ibby, Glen

Funding Stream• BskyB own 17.9% of ITV• This makes it the largest shareholder in the company• This gives BskyB the opportunity to dictate ITV strategies• BskyB have BskyB heavily criticised by The CC (competition complaints) • They have urged John Hutton(secretary of Business and enterprise)to tells sky to sell

their shares to increase competition .• The CC have argued that because BSkyB can dictate policies it will cause BskyB to

take advantage of rights of certain programs and other businesses owned by ITV.• An example of the power struggle is; GMTV dispute with BSkyB. They argued over the

phrase “sunrise” which is used in both TV shows.• Sky won the dispute with many stating that because sky was seen as more

“superior.”• ITV has always had different investors who fund the company. Some of the investors

are;– STV group – channel television

The Values

• The official ITV website clearly gives its values which are;– Commitment– Boldness– Integrity– Excellence– Commercial– LeadHowever, some critics have stated that ITV’s values are

illegitimate. An example of some values are;– poorly constructive television programs– Lack of loyalty

Political Affiliation

It’s very hard to say where they stand Politically

It is never said where they stand, it is only suggested by there actions

What OFCOM Say described by Ofcom as having a "completely inadequate compliance system" as demonstrated by the programmes they made and complied including Soapstar Superstar, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon,“

An ITV plc source said that compliance should not be seen as a money-spinner and should be aimed at ensuring programmes were of a high standard.

"Compliance should not be a competitive, free market business. The fact that Channel see it that way should send alarm bells ringing across the industry," the ITV source added.

Who has the real influence and power within ITV ?

Does OFCOM actually do much or at all influence ITV

OFCOM have very little influence at all. The main funders of ITV are ‘bSkyb aka Rupert Murdoch, Channel TV and the STV Group’ … Each of these companies are large Corporate and Capitalist companies. The fact is, that OFCOM do indeed fine the ITV channel, but there are limits to what they can fine for instance. So by ITV actually breaking the rules, but not to much, they make MUCH more money. For instance.

Channel TV, the ITV licence holder for the Channel Islands, has qualifying revenue of about £4m, and Ofcom could only impose of maximum fine of £200,000.

The regulator fined ITV a record £5.675m last year, for "seriously and repeatedly misleading its audience" on 86 separate occasions over four years, causing viewers to waste £7.8m on premium rate calls. But they still made £7.8m. So they made over £2m anyway and these were on shows such as Ant and Dec where they have been heavily criticized for breaking OFCOM regulations anyway. It also took OFCOM FOUR years to actually take proper action.

ITV are also quite famous for there “phone line” game shows. They are actually very clever and there have been cases of people spending up to £3000 by playing them. They have been sued on several occasions, but for a single person, rich or not it’s incredibly difficult to face a law suit against a large multi national corporation. The main argument for ITV is that they do state the rules and regulations on screen and also the cost of playing.

To Conclude, there is no real SET Political Affiliation within ITV. The reasons being that ITV it’s self, seems to be interested in making quality TV and not so much about making massive amounts of money. But all of it’s funders are, and ITV funds it’s self actually very little. Which means nearly all the influence and money comes from big multi nationals going back to Ibby’s point of ‘bSkyb’ being “superior”.

A very good example of proving this point is actually through a show such as “X-factor” … X-factor is an INCREDIBLY commercial show, although it’s very expensive to make, if you think about how many people across Britain and also the world watch it. For advertisers to put there adverts in the breaks, it costs them massive amounts. Similar to the way in that the “SUPERBOWL” American football in the USA can cost advertisers up to a $1 Million to have there adverts on the main screen. Not only this, but if you look at the locations that the best singers go into, for instance this year, Morocco, Dubai, Los Angelis and Italy, they are all very shown off and commercialised for tourism reasons. The countries tourist boards would have to bid or even have to pay for the show to be held there in order to attract large amounts of tourism from Britain.

Another thing that ITV last year was HEAVILY criticized for was that on a show like x-factor or Britain's got talent. When the winners were on tour, they actually got paid very little and were being charged for things by ITV for things like accommodation. This seems very unfair considering the show and company has just made £Millions.

Global Positioning, Brands and Products

• ITV has recently launched ‘Coronation Street’ branded products including a PC game, branded T-shirts and even a girls of Coronation street calendar to mark the 50th anniversary of the well acclaimed British TV show.

• ITV Studios Global Entertainment said: "Coronation Street is the UK’s most consistent and best rating television drama, an incredibly powerful and exciting proposition for consumer product ideas. Together, we’re bringing to life television’s most loved characters through compelling and high-quality product extensions.“

• ITV Global Entertainment Ltd announce EIGHT major merchandise and licensing deals for the #1 rating teen and young peoples musical drama, Britannia High.

• ITV Global Entertainment has joined forces with eight of the UK’s leading licensee’s to create a unique range of clothing and lifestyle products, extending the teen popularity of the series into ‘must have’ product. The Britannia High consumer products collection features lifestyle and dress-up fashion inspired by the shows six on-screen characters – including the character Lola’s iconic ‘union flag’ dress.

ITV is a producer of entertainment on a global level • Unlike practically all of the TV channels in the United Kingdom, ITV is not owned by

one single company, although it has come close to becoming so in recent years.

• Its legal name has been Channel 3, the number 3 having no real meaning other than to distinguish it from BBC One, BBC Two and Channel 4 - prior to this, the network had no legal overall name.

By Chris, Ibby, Glen