ITV's programming budget has been frozen for the past two years at £750m because of the impact of the advertising downturn and the drain on resources from their loss-making digital joint venture ITV Digital, which was costing £1m a day to run.
It also comes amid growing signs of a recovery in the TV ad market. The latest industry forecasts, reported in the weekend press, suggest that ITV will generate £1.66bn in ad revenues this year, down just 2.1% on last year's figure.
Last year, ITV1 lost out in the battle for audience share to BBC1 by 0.1% across overall hours. Carlton and Granada are expected to step up their strategy to win back audience share this year, particularly now they do not have to plough money into ITV Digital.
ITV is already trying to build bridges with advertisers after running a conference for advertisers last week to promote TV as an advertising medium.
The conference, called Television Matters, extolled the virtues of TV advertising to advertisers and agencies, and gave the audience the chance to commission a TV programme for ITV2.
News of the budget increase will likely anger the Football League, which is suing Carlton and Granada for £178.5m to cover two outstanding payments on a three-year £315m deal for the rights to televise league football matches.
Last week, it was announced that first division club Bradford City was placed into administration because it could not afford to continue without the extra money from the ITV Digital deal.
Carlton is expected to announce the funding when it reports its full-year results on Wednesday.
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