PSB Report: ITV should have lesser regional role

Ofcom has recommended that ITV should have a lesser role and the BBC a greater one in regional non-news programming as analogue switchoff draws nearer.

The regulator said it recognised that ITV1's non-news regional obligations - currently set at around three hours per week - would become "untenable" after switchover because of the high costs involved and the low audiences such programmes typically receive.

The suggested answer relies primarily on "a new commitment to regional programming from the BBC," in line with proposals already put forward by the corporation. Ofcom recommends a "rebalancing of obligations for non-news English regional programming between ITV1 and the BBC," as well as a new local BBC news service.

Furthermore, Ofcom has suggested that ITV'1 non-news obligation in the English regions be reduced from 3 hours per week to just 90 minutes per week from 2005, with all reductions coming in off-peak hours.