The chief executive of STV reiterated the case for keeping a separate licence for the terrestrial channel in Scotland and dismissed suggestions that the station was subsidised by London-based ITV.
The chief executive of STV reiterated the case for keeping a separate licence for the terrestrial channel in Scotland and dismissed suggestions that the station was subsidised by London-based ITV.
Rob Woodward waded into the controversy about the future of the network by insisting STV was relevant to today's Scotland and that it actually helped the much bigger ITV pay its bills.
Speaking after STV published its thoughts on the future of public-service broadcasting, Woodward took issue with claims made by the chairman of the much bigger ITV that the broadcaster's junior partners were riding on its coat tails.
In August, Sir Michael Grade accused STV of receiving a £25m subsidy from ITV plc and called for the replacement of all STV on-screen logos with his company's branding.
Grade argues STV does not pay a big enough share of the costs of the network programmes around which it sells advertising.
Some sector-watchers saw the comments as evidence of Grade's desire to control all 15 ITV licences and create one single national ITV broadcaster.
However, Woodward told The Herald: "ITV came up with an unsubstantiated claim of £25m. We say there's a huge benefit which is flowing back from ourselves to ITV."
For example, the company can broadcast programmes made by STV on its digital channels for virtually no cost and benefits from the promotion of those channels on STV.
Woodward said STV had worked with Ingenious Consulting on an "impartial look at the economics" which indicated that ITV received £28m worth of benefits from STV.
In its submission to a review of public-service broadcasting by media regulator Ofcom, STV said the interests of Scotland and the regions of the UK were best served by the current system of licences.
"The idea of a London-centric single-branded service flies in the face of political, social and economic trends," Woodward said.
STV is seeking a £5m annual payment to reflect the fact Ofcom accepts that the costs of generating PSB outweigh the commercial benefits derived from the terrestrial broadcasting licence.
