Watchdog deals advertising blow to ITV

The watchdog was asked to consider whether ITV should be allowed to introduce a greater degree of flexibility into negotiations with advertisers.

The Competition Commission examined the proposal, but said it would not provide adequate protection for advertisers and would result in "too many uncertainties and questions".

The Commission told ITV in September that it planned to keep the Contract Rights Renewal (CRR) system, which was introduced to protect advertisers from the broadcaster's dominant position when Carlton and Granada merged to form ITV in 2003.

However, the Commission offered a concession today as it proposed relaxing the regime by widening the definition of ITV1 to include its timeshift and high definition channels.

The change will allow ITV to launch these new channels without being inadvertently penalised, as they would be under the current undertakings.

Diana Guy, chairman of the CRR review, said other variations were not likely to be either practicable or effective.

She added: "We looked carefully at a new proposal from ITV aimed at introducing greater flexibility into negotiations whilst retaining some protection for advertisers.

"We found that it would not provide adequate protection for advertisers and its practical application would raise too many uncertainties and questions."