Special Reports: ITV Must Change
Is the clocking ticking for Michael Grade following today’s announcement of job cuts, studio closures and programme cuts?
When he joined ITV just a few years ago there were such high hopes for Michael Grade and a feeling that ITV was about to turn a corner – that perhaps its dark times were near an end. No such luck though as ITV’s problems actually got worse and now the broadcaster is seemingly in serious trouble and today announced job losses, budget cuts and studio closures. Advertising revenues are down, due to the credit crunch, and ratings are also a problem for the channel.
ITV is increasingly relying on the likes of Coronation Street, X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent to deliver big ratings for it but this formula can’t work forever. Over the past two weeks we’ve seen the previous winning formula of Ant & Dec falter as there Saturday Night Takeaway game-show has slumped in the ratings. The duo’s quiz show has dropped by 1.5 million since it returned for a new run and is now below the station’s average for the time-slot while BBC One has increased its ratings for the same slot over the past two weeks.
If the previous winning formula of Ant & Dec can falter and see ratings slide what of The X-Factor and 
Coronation Street? ITV are faced with the serious prospect of losing Simon Cowell when his “golden-handcuffs” deal runs out and they simply can’t afford him at his current price. That could mean the X-Factor without Cowell or no X-Factor at all. If ITV did lose the show, at its just a possibility at this point, it would be in serious trouble because its big Autumn/Winter ratings titan would be no more and advertisers will look elsewhere. Of course no Cowell also means no Britain’s Got Talent. Coronation Street has been going for nearly fifty years, an impressive run, but how much longer can it run before it runs out of steam? The gap between EastEnders and Coronation Street is once again narrowing and its unlikely EastEnders will relent as it tries to catch up with its Northern counterpart. With the ITV soap now producing five episodes a week quality is hard to maintain and standards have slipped – how long before it slides into a bad patch?
As ITV faces the prospect of losing its big names it also faces the prospect of losing more dramas as budget cut backs force more programmes to be scrapped. Several have already fallen to the axe and more will follow. ITV Drama suffered greatly last year with only two newly launches series’ being re-commissioned, the rest were all flops. With ITV having to be careful about what it spends ratings will be all the more crucial and the drama’s that don’t bring in the numbers will be axed, new or old.
If ITV can actually survive the next few years it will likely be a completely different station to the one we know today. It will have to make tough decisions, stop securing talent with big pay deals, cut back on programming and maybe even axe one or two of its digital stations. That’s if it survives because if the credit crunch has taught us anything it’s that even the biggest of names can fall. ITV is about to face its biggest challenge ever and if we’re honest it doesn’t look good for the broadcaster.
