Following the publication of the draft Media Bill, ITV has confirmed that it has applied to Ofcom to begin the process of renewing the Channel 3 nations and regions licences in England, Border Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as applying to renew the national Channel 3 breakfast licence.Earlier this year, ITV welcomed the publication of the Media Bill as a decisive staging post on the journey to a modern and flexible regulatory regime for TV and media in the UK.In a letter sent on March 29th to the Ofcom Chief Executive Melanie Dawes, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer noted that ITV and STV as current Channel 3 licence holders continue to fulfil their core purposes as PSBs (Public Service Broadcasters) and communicated her decision to permit Ofcom to renew the licences to enable this success to continue and for the PSB system to continue to thrive into the future.ITV’s investment in original UK programming and in news and current affairs programming, especially in the nations and regions, was noted by the Secretary of State as important for viewers, and for creating jobs and contributing to the UK production sector.After a short period of technical consultation on key provisions of the Bill, the next step is for the government to allocate Parliamentary time for the Bill before the election, and ITV is urging them to do this as soon as possible.Carolyn McCall, ITV’s Chief Executive, commented: “The new framework in the draft Media Bill will be fundamental to ITV’s future as a PSB. ITV is confident that the proposed reforms will give us the certainty to commit to renewing our Channel 3 licence in 2024 and to continue to deliver our public service provisions for a further 10 years and we would ask the government to urgently make available Parliamentary time for the legislation to be passed.”
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