The CRR system, one of the conditions of the merger between Carlton and Granada, allows advertisers to renegotiate the terms of deals based on previous agreements.
However, advertisers will also be able to reduce their share of broadcast spend on ITV1 if viewing numbers fall. For this reason it is crucial for ITV to maintain its commercial impacts -- which are measured based on one person watching a 30-second commercial.
At its full-year results today, which was brought into line with Carlton's results announcement ahead of the merger in January, Granada said scheduling would be designed with advertisers' needs in mind.
Programmes would then be commissioned to fit the scheduling brief, backed by marketing and promotion and then broadcast.
Each slot will also be benchmarked to make sure that ITV1 receives the maximum impacts and profitability.
In October, Carlton and Granada revealed that year on year they were investing an extra £57m in programming, bringing the budget to £849m. Including regional programming investment, ITV's spend for the 12 months to September 2004 will be close to £1bn.
Granada said ITV intends to invest in original and new programmes as well as supporting and refreshing its "banker" shows such as Emmerdale, Heartbeat, The Royal and Coronation Street. Charles Allen, chief executive designate of ITV, said that the aim was to make "talked about TV".
The company also unveiled plans to develop a family of ITV channels to build on the success of its sole ITV-brand multichannel offering ITV2, which will be cross promoted.
Advertising on ITV2 and the network's planned digital channels will not be subjected to the CRR mechanism, which only applies to ITV1.
Yesterday, David Connolly, the former vice chairman at Starcom Motive, was appointed as the independent adjudicator to oversee ITV airtime deals.
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