Carlton CEO Gerry Murphy launched a scathing attack against Granada chairman Charles Allen last night about a letter Allen had written to the prime minister Tony Blair, which was leaked to the Sunday Times.
In the letter, Allen said that delaying the consolidation of the ITV network would cause both company's share prices to fall, leaving them vulnerable to foreign takeover. In addition, he raised the politically sensitive spectre of job losses from the possible closure of ONdigital.
Allen's comments, coupled with renewed concern about the health of ITV advertising revenues, sent the companies' shares tumbling to new lows of 141.5p for Granada, down 6.25p, while Carlton's fell 15p to 319p.
Murphy dismissed Allen's outburst as "hysterical scaremongering". He said that a merger with Granada was neither "inevitable nor necessary", adding it was possible for ITV to continue as a partnership "provided both sides understand the meaning of the word partnership".
The battle follows a recent report by Zenith Media that advertising revenues would not recover until next year. The US media-buying organisation forecasts that ITV revenues would rise 5.1% next year after an 8.9% fall this year.
This morning, Granada's share price began to recover, climbing 2.2p to 143.7p. Carlton's rose 2p to 321p.