ITV digs in heels over new show

ITV is digging its heels in over its new football show The Premiership - saying the ratio of advertisements to action will not change.

But station bosses have not ruled out less chat on next Saturday's show to compensate for complaints about there not being enough football.

The Premiership show was branded a rip-off after soccer fans protested that last Saturday's show contained only 28 minutes of action, with 13 minutes of adverts and 27 minutes of analysis.

The BBC's old Match Of The Day screened 56 minutes of action in a 74-minute show.

So many football fans were annoyed by the ratio of adverts to action that they switched to BBC, giving the station one of its best Saturday night viewing figures.

ITV's primetime slot would usually pull in about six million viewers with a mix of light entertainment. Last Saturday 4.3 million viewers, or 23 per cent of the audience, tuned in to The Premiership.

On the BBC, the National Lottery draw attracted an impressive 7.6 million viewers, and a special edition of The Weakest Link pulled in 6.7 million.

Viewers jammed ITV's website over the weekend, complaining that the station had put cash for adverts before football coverage. But ITV bosses vowed today that the ads to action ratio would not change, despite complaints.