UTV Media plc has today advised Ofcom that its subsidiary UTV Ltd (UTV) accepts the financial terms for the renewal of its regional Channel 3 licence in Northern Ireland for a further ten year period commencing January 1st 2015.
The announcement ensures UTV can plan ahead to invest in high quality public service content and in further technology to deliver programming on a number of platforms.
John McCann, Group Chief Executive, UTV Media plc said: “UTV are totally committed to providing our audience with high quality public service programming in the future as we have for more than 50 years.”
The decisions Ofcom has taken mean that viewers in many areas will receive TV news that is designed to be more relevant to their local area.
Michael Wilson, Managing Director, UTV said: “The commitment of our staff has never been stronger and the quality of our regional output continues to enjoy some of the highest ratings in the whole of the UK.”
This announcement follows criticism from Irish broadcasters as UTV's new Irish channel will avoid a state levy that costs its competitors hundreds of thousands of euro each year.
The Northern Ireland TV channel has applied for a licence through a rarely used law that bypasses a broadcasting levy paid for by most of the rest of the country's radio and TV stations including RTÉ and TV3. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) generates most of its income from the broadcasting levy which UTV will sidestep. Setanta Sports also avoids this levy as it buys in the majority of its content instead of producing it in Ireland.
UTV will import most of its content from UK producers, mainly ITV, in order to air shows such as ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Emmerdale’. UTV’s only indigenous content planned for now is a one-hour, peak-time news, current affairs and community programme. This is however expected to increase in the coming months.