ITV to show repeats over summer as coronavirus rips up filming schedule
ITV’s chief executive today warned that it is “inevitable” that the public service broadcaster will mostly show repeats over the summer, as the coronavirus pandemic has forced it to axe filming schedules for blockbuster shows such as Love Island and the 2020 Euros.
Speaking on a virtual committee meeting hosted by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Dame Carolyn McCall said lockdowns around the world and social distancing rules had hampered the broadcaster’s output.
“It’s inevitable there will be some repeats this summer in particular,” she said. “The summer schedule is the most challenged — the Euros were meant to be on, Love Island was meant to be on.
“We will try and do that cleverly, and not just [show] old classics,” Dame Carolyn, adding that the broadcaster will “re-curate” its output for the summer TV season.
She added that ITV had resumed production for 38 shows, but that some programmes would remain on hold while staff are still on furlough. “We are not producing drama because we haven’t found a way yet because the distancing rules are very difficult. They are people who will come off furlough last,” said the ITV chief.
Dramas make up a large portion of the broadcaster’s output, which in recent years has produced hits such as The Durrells, Broadchurch and Victoria.
Quiz, ITV’s dramatisation of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire coughing scandal, was the most viewed drama of the year when it was broadcast during lockdown in April, after bagging more than 9m viewers on both live TV and ITV Hub.
Members of the DCMS committee hearing, which marked the second session of its inquiry into the future of public service broadcasting, grilled Dame Carolyn over why ITV had slashed its programme by £100m during the pandemic.
The ITV chief nodded to a slump in revenue over the coronavirus crisis, adding that it was still “nowhere near” pre-Covid levels. Dame Carolyn added that the broadcaster’s usual revenue stream “will only return with consumer confidence and business confidence”.
Asked why ITV had not followed other broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4 in harnessing the coronavirus pandemic to up its educational output, Dame Carolyn conceded that ITV’s content was not modern enough.
“We did go back to the archives and have a good look at whether we had material that would be useful that we could put up on the ITV Hub, and the truth is that some content is from the ‘80s and ‘90s.”
“We didn’t think that it would actually provide any real value… even if we could play it right we didn’t think we had the expertise internally in terms of packaging that in a way which made sense with the national curriculum”, she added.
It comes as the BBC last month said it will also show more repeats over the summer and output will be “thinner” over the next year after the coronavirus pandemic forced the broadcaster to scrap its filming schedule.
Speaking to ministers at the first DCMS select committee hearing on the future of public service broadcasting, senior executives said the BBC will be forced to bring back some “old classics” after dramas set to be filmed this summer were cancelled due to the lockdown.
Clare Sumner, the BBC’s director of policy, said the coronavirus had presented a “tough period” for the broadcaster, as it attempts to recover more than £125m in losses related to the pandemic, on top of ongoing savings targets of £190m over the next five years.