London based and proud
There's a certain irony that ITV apparently failed to meet its quotas for out of London production. Irony that a network which was founded on regional principles, to spread power and away from the capital, is now firmly rooted in London, and makes most of its programmes there.
ITV, in their defence, failed in the budget test - whilst it did make at least 50% of programmes made outside London, the amount of money spent outside London did not meet the required quotas.
The news shouldn't surprise anyone though. ITV plc has been steadily shutting down studios outside London, and scaling back its regional centres to be focused purely on news and current affairs. And even the big studio centres of Leeds and Manchester aren't safe from the axe. Reports today in Broadcast suggest that 39 technical and post-production jobs are likely to go from Leeds and another 50 in Manchester - which will undoubtedly help ITV take "the necessary steps to meet the quota in 2008".
More blog posts about: ITV plc, London, Ofcom
