IDS movesThinkbox cash to research

Flextech sales house IDS has said it will divert the money it formerly contributed to Thinkbox into its own research into the television market, ending hopes that it might soon rejoin the industry marketing body.

IDS quit Thinkbox earlier this month after disagreeing with the body's new weighted voting structure that gives its biggest contributors, such as ITV, a greater say in key decisions.

IDS broadcast sales director Martin Plant said the company would now establish its own research programme with the "not insignificant" money it previously pumped into Thinkbox, prompting fears the split may be permanent.

"We are going to be redeploying into research of our own looking at the effect of television using case studies," he said.

"It is something we firmly believe in and it will be an on-going project."

The sales house, which oversees advertising on Flextech's channels, such as Living TV and the UKTV brands, has said it will not return to Thinkbox until the previous one-man one-vote regime is re-implemented.

"We have left and the reasons for that are pretty clear," Plant said. "From our point of view, unless that changes, the situation we are currently in will remain. It is not just a matter of principle."

Plant also said the stand-off with Proctor & Gamble, which has seen the UK's biggest television advertiser withdraw all its advertising from Flextech channels since the beginning of July over a stand-off over fees, was still on-going.

"We are in regular contact with P&G, but nothing has changed," he said.

Bernard Balderston, P&G associate director of UK and Irish media, who is heading the negotiations, refused to comment.

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