ITV has increased its pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year by 9% to £425m as growth at its production arm offset stalling TV ad revenues. Asked whether the growing importance of ITV Studios to the company made him more concerned about the BBC’s plans to spin off its own production arm, Crozier said ITV did not object to the plans on a “point of principle”. Total external revenues across the group were up by 11% to £1.5bn for the six months to the end of June, driven primarily by a 31% rise in revenues from ITV Studios, which makes programmes for both ITV and other broadcasters around the world. “That’s partly because it is too early to say, and partly because nothing much is going to happen very soon. However, it says it plans to cut costs by £25m by 2017 in response to uncertainty over the fallout from the UK’s Brexit vote.

Source: The Guardian July 27, 2016 07:00 UTC