ITV 'failed to meet show quotas'

Ant and Dec's shows are among those based in London

ITV failed to spend enough money on making programmes outside London last year, media regulator Ofcom has said.

Some 44% of the ITV1 production budget was spent on shows made outside the capital - "significantly below" its 50% quota, the watchdog said.

Ofcom said it was taking the issue "very seriously".

The failure could mean more fines for ITV following a series of premium rate phone-in scandals that led to a record £5.68m fine earlier this month.

A separate audit revealed that the broadcaster also failed to meet the quota in 2006, spending 46% on programmes outside London.

'Serious matter'

"Ofcom believes it is important that broadcasters meet the minimum requirements set out in their licences," Ofcom said in a statement.

"ITV's failure to meet the value element of its out-of-London quota is a serious matter, and one which is the subject of further consideration by Ofcom with a view to regulatory action."

In response, an ITV spokesman said: "ITV did meet the required volume of out of London production in 2007.

"However we accept that the quota in terms of value was not achieved during this period.

"We recognise that we must comply with these challenging obligations and we will be taking the necessary steps to meet the quota in 2008."

The Communications Act requires networks to spend a set amount of their production budgets outside London.

The quota applies to all network programming including dramas and comedies but excludes news.

Ofcom said the BBC spent 3% more than its quota in 2007, Channel 4 was 5% over and Five exceeded its quota by 3%.

Earlier this month, Ofcom imposed the £5.68m fine on ITV for abusing premium rate phone services in viewer competitions and accused programme makers of a "total disregard" for broadcasting rules.