Green light for Granada

Granada has won UK Government approval for its US$1.9 billion purchase of Carlton Communications, which will create a single main owner of ITV, the country's biggest commercial television network.

The network, with an estimated 52 per cent of the British television ad market, has lost audience share to rivals such as British Sky Broadcasting Group and Bertelsmann's Five in the past five years.

The acquisition will help the company, to be called ITV, save £55 million ($153 million) a year, Granada chairman Charles Allen said.