ITV’s £100m UTV deal faces scrutiny

Fledgling broadcaster UTV Ireland’s news staff in the Dublin Docklands were assured yesterday that their jobs were safe after Britain’s ITV confirmed it will buy all of the UTV Media Group’s television operations, but the £100m (€135.9m) deal still faces regulatory hurdles.

The deal adds to ITV’s already extensive ownership of the once independent regional broadcasters in Britain, and the acquisition of both Belfast and Dublin operations means there will now be no major locally owned commercial broadcasters across Ireland.

The transaction also spells increased competition across light entertainment programming and sports coverage for both RTÉ and TV3, which was only recently bought by Liberty Global — the owner of cable company UPC, which was rebranded as Virgin Media in recent weeks.