ITV on track with Mediacity move

ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said the broadcaster was making “solid progress” in the first year of a five-year transformation plan, including its move to Mediacity.

Revenues in the first half of 2011 increased by 4% to just over £1bn, which the firm said was an achievement given the economic background and the strong comparatives from last year when advertising from the World Cup was included.

Adjusted profits before tax increased by 73% to £204m, and the company said that it has generated £15m of cost savings through the transformation plan. Net debt also reduced significantly to £52m, from £188m at its year end.

Crozier warned that ITV’s capital expenditure costs were likely to increase to £80m during its current year, up from £28m last year. This is partly due to increased IT spend on “fixing our core business technology” but also the Mediacity move.

“We are making progress with moving the company’s Manchester base from Quay Street to MediaCity, where we are building a bespoke production centre for Coronation Street – scheduled to complete in 2013. As previously outlined, we expect to see a significant increase in capital expenditure in 2011 associated with this move and our investment in technology,” Crozier said.

The company has recentl;y launched its own digital viewer, ITV Player, on the Android mobile operating systems, on Apple devices and through the Freesat system and said that it had improved its share of the TVB audience by 2%.

It also said eight of the ten most popular dramas were shown on its network, including Vera, Marchlands, Monroe and Scott & Bailey.

“Our plan to renew and refresh our content business is beginning to gain momentum under the new top team in ITV Studios as we invest in re-energising the creative pipeline and in developing and piloting new programmes,” said Crozier.

“While there’s still a long way to go, we’re starting to see potential in the level of new work coming through ITV Studios with 68 new commissions so far this year, of which 29 are international.”

He added that in terms of TV adgvertising revenues, the company expected to outperform the rest of the market for the remainder of 2011.