The local touch
Ulster TV profits up by half
It may be the case that Irish viewers appreciate "local character" more than English viewers, but even that alone doesn't properly explain why UTV is doing so well in an even more competitive media market (with channels south of the border) compared to England/Wales/Scotland. And UTV had been doing rather well even during the recent advertising recession that hit the English and Scottish ITV regions hard.
Or maybe it's because that ITV England and Wales plc - and SMG to an extent - is now so corporate and dull that people only watch the programmes because they feel they have to?
