The two have been under fire since they announced their merger just over a week ago from rivals who say that their merger will reduce competition in the television advertising market.
Carlton and Granada want the regulator to change the definition of the market and so remove the regulatory hurdles to a merger of their sales houses, by claiming that they will control a much smaller percentage of the broader market.
Overall, ITV controls 55% of UK television advertising revenues with 49% of that accounted for by Carlton and Granada's individual sales houses. The remaining 6% in ITV sales is made up by SMG, Ulster TV and the Channel TV companies.
Advertisers and rival TV stations are concerned that if the two merge their sales houses as part of the deal, they will be able to force up the price of TV airtime sales.
The deal to create a single ITV company will need to win approval from several bodies including the Independent Television Commission and the Office of Fair Trading.
The government is thought to be largely in favour of the deal, which would create a powerful commercial British television company.
However, it is still thought likely that the deal will be referred to the Competition Commission although this is not seen as a major hurdle to winning approval.
According to reports Carlton and Granada are likely to point to other European markets including France where TF1 controls 53% of the market; Italy where RTL has 62%; and Germany where ProSieben has 44%.
Carlton and Granada are promising that the merger will lead to cost savings of around £35m a year in duplicated infrastructure and administration in broadcasting, content and central services and a further £20m of savings achievable on full merger. However, there will be a one off cost to achieve these benefits, estimated to be £40m.
Charles Allen the Granada chairman, last week: "We’ll work in partnership with our advertisers to use the full power of ITV to drive their brands and businesses."
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