LONDON (Brand Republic) - The Independent Television Commission has blocked Channel 5鈥檚 plans to move its early evening news bulletin out of primetime to make room for ratings winning programmes such as Home and Away.
The regulator refused to allow the move of the 30-minute 5 News show from 6pm to 5.30pm on the grounds that the station would not fulfil its licence obligations.
The channel is understood to have wanted to schedule its newly acquired Australian soap due to launch in July at 6pm. Homegrown weekday soap Family Affairs would have followed at 6.30pm.
Channel 5 shareholder RTL Group is said to be increasing pressure on the broadcaster to increase its audience share to 10% -- it currently averages around 5.5%.