Campaign

Talking to contacts this morning in light of ITV's £2.7 billion losses, it's hard to detect too much sympathy around for those who control the broadcaster. Plenty for those among the 600 who will lose their jobs as it restructures but beyond that there is a feeling that ITV has played a part in its own misfortunes.

Sure the downturn and wider economic picture have hampered ITV's chances of turning around its fortunes, but some are arguing that its content and strategy for diversifying away from ITV1 has not been strong enough.

In mitigation, ITV is performing well in holding its audience share against the BBC but the ad revenues aren't there despite this and now it is pushing for rapid decisions over CRR and Ofcom's proposals that it should be allowed to reduce its regional news commitment.

And  it is banging the drum for more radical industry reform, perhaps including a merger with Channel 4 and Five. While there is little appetite for this among the advertising community there is at least recognition that something big and structural needs to happen. As one media agency boss told me this morning: "I'm no advocate of the ITV/4/Five merger but there needs to be a radical rethink of advertiser-funded television because it isn't a model that works right now."