The investment in programming will be announced at a strategy update on Wednesday, at which Grade will reassure investors that he has a strategy for reviving ITV.
The main focus of Wednesday's state-of-the-nation meeting will be a review of ITV by Grade, who joined from the BBC nine months ago.
He is committed to turning around ITV's flagship channel ITV1, and an investment in home-grown quality programming is the way he thinks it can be achieved. Former Five and BSkyB director Dawn Airey joins ITV in next month as director of global content and in charge of all programming.
Part of her remit will be to increase the number of programmes that ITV makes. The increase in ITV's programming budget would take its spend to around £1.025bn.
There will also be a focus on investment in digital in terms of its digital channels and the recently relaunched ITV.com. ITV's digital channels, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 are thought to be doing well and outperforming the market.
Some of the additional cash for programming will come from savings made from cuts to ITV's public service remit in areas such as regional news, which will come as part of digital switchover in 2012.
There is also fresh speculation linking Rupert Howell, the former regional director and president of McCann Erickson, to a job at ITV.
Last year, he was named as a possible chief executive of ITV. His name has now emerged as a strong contender for the job of commercial director.
His name joins a list that has also included: Tess Alps, chief executive of TV marketing body Thinkbox,; Sky Media managing director Nick Milligan; Channel 4 sales director Andy Barnes; Gary Digby, managing director of ITV customer relations; and most recently Nick Smith, the group managing director of Accenture Marketing Sciences,
However, reports at the weekend suggest that Grade has approached Howell to take the key executive job, a move in which he would replace Ian McCulloch who left in May.
The job could open the way for Howell to become chief executive and succeed Grade who would step back to a non-executive chairman's role.
Last week, ITV launched a review of its advertising account and incumbent M&C Saatchi said it would not repitch. Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Mother are hot contenders for the £15m account.
.jpg)
.jpg)