It has emerged that ITV will only launch ITV1 +1 if the Competition Commission relaxes the competition rights renewal rules.

Wr reported two days ago that ITV1 is preparing to launch ITV1 +1 next month. However, ITV has indicated that unless the Competition Commission relaxes rules regarding advertising regarding competition rights renewal (CRR), which the competition commission is currently reviewing, the channel will not launch.

The CRR was put in place in 2003 after Carlton and Granada merged to ensure that the merged company did not overly dominate the advertising market. ITV now argues that the CRR is outdated following ITV loosing advertising share. The Office of fair Trading has recommended relaxing the rules.

ITV thinks that under the present rules, ITV1 would losoe further advertising share, and therefore harm revenues, even though a timeshift channel would increase overall audience share.

ITV said in a statement "We continue to explore options with regard to launching ITV1 +1. ITV has begun preliminary planning in order that, should the launch of a timeshifted channel be an economically viable option, we would be ready to do so."

If given the go-ahead, ITV1 +1 would launch on Sky, Freesat, Freeview and Virgin Media. Timeshifts for ITV's other channels are currently broadcasting on Sky and Freesat with ITV2 +1 also broadcasting on Freeview.

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james  - be on freeview itv1+1   | 07-02-2010 19:37:49

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