ITV has been given a £220,000 fine by media regulator Ofcom, or £20,000 each for the 11 ITV regions owned by ITV plc that encompass Wales and England, for failing to meet out-of-London programme production as part of their public service licenses.

Also fined by Ofcom were STV, the license owner of two regions that broadcast in Scotland, was fined for £10,000 - £5,000 each of the regions; and UTV, the license owner of the Northern Ireland region, and Channel TV, the owner of the ITV channels in the Channel Islands, was both fined £5,000.

STV, UTV and Channel TV were fined because they broadcast network programming from ITV plc, like Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

While ITV1 managed to meet the minimum 50% of out-of-London quota in broadcasting – achieving 50% in 2006 and 53% in 2007; it failed on production spending – spending 45.6% in 2006, and spending 44.3% in 2007.

This fine comes as ITV waits to find out if it has been successful in reducing its license obligations – including the out-of-London quota system.

Source: The Guardian