Allen, currently chairman of Granada, who becomes chief executive of the £5.5bn merged ITV on Monday, has confirmed that the third channel will build on the success of ITV2 and will be aimed at an older, more affluent audience.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Allen said: "The third channel will give us the chance to do things like whole nights or weekends of, say 'Prime Suspect' or to get viewers switching from one episode of a drama on ITV1 straight to the next episode on ITV3."
The channel could find itself competing with UKTV-owned G2, the new UK Gold-branded channel aimed at the 16- to 34-year-old market, which runs contemporary BBC shows such as 'Spooks', 'State of Play' and 'Have I Got News for You'. UKTV, the joint venture between the BBC and Flextech, also has a drama channel of its own, UK Drama.
It has not been decided whether ITV3 will be a free-to-air or subscription channel. ITV declined to comment further on the channel or name a launch date. A spokesperson said today that plans were still in very early stages.
ITV2 has been a quiet success story for the group and is currently gaining high ratings for its round the clock broadcasts of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'.
ITV has learned to cross-market itself across terrestrial and digital platforms so that viewers of 'Pop Idol' and 'I'm a Celebrity' are encouraged to switch channels for extra coverage.
Allen said that the new ITV has moved away from the pettiness of stealing market share.
"For the first time, we will go out there and sell the story of the whole medium. The message used to be that we had to fight Sky and fight Channel 4, but now I want us to learn from the great success which radio enjoyed by selling itself as an industry to advertisers," he said.
Allen's argument is that advertisers need to be told to buy the medium, not necessarily the particular channel, in the multichannel world.
ITV also relaunches its revamped news service on Monday night. It will now be televised at a regular 10.30pm slot, competing for viewers with BBC One's 'Ten O'Clock News'. There will also be new logos and idents. Investment in the channel will move it away from rolling bulletins to more live items and interviews. Previously, the ITV news slot had been jokingly referred to as 'News at When?', due to repeated alterations to the timing of the bulletin.
With the recent turbulence at the BBC over the Hutton findings and resignations of Greg Dyke and Gavyn Davies, Allen may have plenty reason to be optimistic. The BBC is ITV's main competitor in terms of ratings.
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