ITV

ITV is the largest commercial TV network in Britain. Predominantly operated by ITV plc, UTV Media plc and STV Group plc also have a stake in the network. ITV plc’s board of directors includes Archie Norman the only FTSE-100 chairman ever to sit in the Commons, and gilded business lobbyist Adam Crozier.

Its revenue totaled £2.59 billion (US$3.9 billion) in 2014, during which time it secured the biggest audience of any British commercial broadcaster (22 percent).

Founded in 1955, ITV was designed to compete with Britain’s oldest television network, the BBC. It operates the largest commercial family of channels in the UK, which includes ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITV Encore, ITVBe and CITV. In addition to this, it delivers content across itv.com, Virgin, Sky, and Netflix.

ITV plc is the biggest shareholder in its flagship news provider Independent Television News (ITN). ITN has produced news for ITV since its inception, with national news bulletins aired daily; it also produces Channel 4 News and 5 News.

ITV plc chairman, Archie Norman, once gloated that he was "the first FTSE-100 chairman to sit in the House of Commons and <...> will almost certainly be the last." He is widely known for his so-called "legendary years" at Asda, where he slashed 5,000 jobs yet transformed the supermarket giant into Britain’s second-largest supermarket group.

Harvard Business School-educated Norman was elected as a Tory MP in 1997 and served for eight years. He became shadow Europe minister in 1999, and was later promoted to the position of shadow secretary of state for environment, transport and the regions. After exiting the Tories’ shadow cabinet in 2001, he set up right-wing think tank Policy Exchange with Tory politician and ex-Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude.

In 2007, the largely pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper described Policy Exchange as Britain’s "most influential think tank" on the right.

Norman has been a member of ITV plc’s board of directors since January 2010. The British businessman oversees the workings of ITV’s management team in the interests of its shareholders.

ITV plc CEO Adam Crozier also sits on ITV’s board of directors. Crozier is a member of Britain’s biggest business lobby, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The organization, which represents 190,000 businesses across the UK, claims to represent their domestic and global interests. It is the main player lobbying for Britain to retain its EU membership in the run-up to the UK’s in/out referendum.

Branded one of Britain’s most significant businessmen, his career has been controversial. While working in the Daily Telegraph’s advertising department, he manipulated sales figures and later justified the misdemeanour by saying: "It was the mistake of a young man, which resulted in absolutely no personal gain whatsoever."

Prior to Crozier’s role at ITV plc, the Scottish businessman was joint chief executive, media director and vice chairman for global advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi, which is headquartered in New York. He also was chief of the Football Association (FA).

Crozier’s departure from Royal Mail in 2010 left him with £3.5 million (US$5.4 million), making him Britain’s best-paid public sector chief at the time. His hefty pay package at Royal Mail in 2007 also left the postal giant with the unappealing mantles of "obscene" and "immoral" in 2007, after it emerged Crozier pocketed over £3 million (US$4.6 million) in pay and bonuses amid 2,500 post office closures.

Some ITV investors criticized Crozier’s £8.4 million (US$12.9 million) pay package for 2013. Despite the uproar, ITV plc chairman Norman defended the remuneration.

Under Crozier’s stewardship, ITV reportedly threatened ministers with court action over a Tory-led push to force digital TV viewers to buy licenses. The proposal meant that a TV license — required to fund the BBC — would also be necessary for users of some digital catch-up TV services offered by ITV, Channel 4 or Channel Five even if those viewers did not consume BBC content.

John Robertson, media politics professor at the University of West Scotland, released a scathing study in the aftermath of the Scottish referendum vote, which claimed that news coverage was biased in favour of the ‘Better Together’ campaign.

Backed by Westminster, the City of London and the wider British establishment, the so-called ‘No’ campaign was lobbying for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom. Robertson’s study alleged that, on average, Scottish news reporting in the run-up to the vote reflected more ‘No’ statements than ‘Yes’ statements and a higher frequency of pro-Union ‘expert’ advice.

ITV was also involved in a fake phone-in scandal, which reportedly cost the network £18 million (US$27.6 million). In May it was fined £5.7 million (US$ 8.7 million) by UK media regulator Ofcom for abusing premium-rate telephone lines in a string of TV competitions. The fine was the highest financial penalty the regulator had ever imposed at the time. ITV also pledged an additional £7.8 million (US$11.9 million) to compensate viewers and benefit charity.

Following an investigation, Ofcom found ITV selected a number of competition finalists before phone lines had been closed, meaning some competitors who had paid to enter had zero chance of winning. The broadcaster had also failed to select competition finalists fairly.

In the aftermath of the scandal, the chairman of Ofcom’s content sanctions committee, Philip Graf, said: "ITV program makers totally disregarded their own published terms and conditions and Ofcom codes.

"Further, there was a completely inadequate compliance system in place. The result was that millions of paying entrants were misled into believing they could fairly interact with some of ITV’s most popular programs."

Ofcom and premium-rate phone watchdog PhonepayPlus were also criticized for a lack of clarity over their regulatory responsibilities. Ofcom eventually forced TV and radio companies to change how they advertise phone-in and mobile voting competitions in 2015.