MPs Called To Back ITV Regional News

BECTU officials are to brief the union’s parliamentary group on the current threat to ITV regional news on 26 March.
BECTU is campaigning, together with fellow trade unionists in the NUJ, in a bid to halt ITV’s current attack on its own regional news operation.
The BECTU briefing of MPs will prepare the way for a formal lobby at the House of Commons in June.
ITV announced last September that it wants to cut the number of evening services its produces down to 9, from the current 17. As a result some parts of the country face the loss, either of their dedicated service, or of their regional opt-out.
The company is seeking OFCOM approval for the changes in a bid to introduce the scaled back regional network in January next year. The proposals coincide with OFCOM’s second major review into Public Service Broadcasting.
BECTU has condemned ITV’s proposals as a further breach of faith by the company with its regional audiences.
ITV staff in all the regions directly affected - Border, Tyne Tees, Central, Meridian, Westcountry and West - have expressed disappointment in executive chairman Michael Grade who went out of his way to renew the company’s commitment to its regional news operation when he took up his post last February.
(CD)