League: ITV Digital claim 'fanciful'

Denials by TV giants Carlton and Granada that they authorised financial backing of the £315 million ITV Digital deal with the Football League are "completely implausible", the High Court heard today.

The Football League, representing 72 clubs, today opened its courtroom battle to force the TV companies to pay the £178.5 million owed after ITV Digital's collapse.

The digital company went into administration in March owing £1.2 billion after admitting it could not afford to pay the Football League for the last two years of its contract.

Carlton and Granada refuse to pay ITV Digital's bills and claim no agreement was ever made regarding parent company guarantees.

Today Charles Flint QC, representing the Football League, told Mr Justice Langley that an initial bid submitted by ITV Digital to the Football League stated that it "and its shareholders will guarantee all funding to the Football League outlined in this document". After the collapse, Carlton and Granada (the shareholders) denied the document was an offer of guarantee and insisted it had been made without their authority, the court heard.

Mr Flint said: "It's completely implausible that the chief executive of a public company would have permitted a statement that the shareholders would guarantee funding without believing that statement to be true."