£220,000 Fine for ITV

LONDON, January 16: ITV has been fined £220,000 by British media regulator Ofcom for breaching quotas set for production outside of London.

The infractions took place in 2006 and 2007, according to Ofcom. At least 50 percent of expenditure on original programming in each year should be allocated to content produced out of London. Ofcom says that ITV didn’t meet this quota, with 45.6 percent out-of-London production in 2006 and 44.3 percent in 2007. The regulator has issued a £20,000 fine against each of 11 ITV-owned regional licenses in England and Wales. Scottish broadcaster STV was hit with £10,000 total fine for the same offence for its two ITV licenses.