The Dundee-based media consultancy Enders Analysis earlier this month reported that Elstein has a strategy for taking over ITV once Carton Communications and Granda merge. It has been reported that he plans to install a new management team, cut 200 jobs and sell off the airtime sales houses.
Elstein subsequently denied the reports and said that it was up to the investors of Carlton and Granada to make the decision on who would run a merged ITV.
Now new reports say that Wall and Milligan are part of the management team that Elstein is putting together for ITV to replace Granada chief executive Charles Allen and Carlton chairman Michael Green.
Allen and Green are set to take the top two jobs at ITV unless they are rejected by investors in favour of an alternate plan such as Elstein's. The two have come in for much investor criticism and there has been disquiet that they are taking both of the senior jobs.
It has also been suggested that the new management team will not replace some exisiting ITV senior staff, including commercial director Jim Hytner and director of programme strategy David Bergg, who will remain.
The Competition Commission is currently investigating the merger and is set to report its findings to the Department of Trade and Industry on August 26. The DTI will then take around 20 days to reach a final verdict. Although it is expected that the deal will be cleared, it is likely that there will be conditions attached to the merger.
The issue of most concern to advertisers is whether or not there will be separate sales houses to create competition. Carlton and Granada have said that if the Competition Commission forces them to divest their sales houses, the merger may become pointless and cost savings would be lost.
The commission has suggested two possible solutions. The first proposal would see a minimum amount of ITV's airtime auctioned off each year to a third party, which would then be sold to a secondary market.
The second would allow advertisers to renew share deals, but based on the same terms as previously agreed. Advertisers would also be allowed to reduce the number of ads shown if ITV's share of viewers decreased, without losing their discounts. Share deals give advertisers discounts over a period of time if they agree to spend a certain amount of money.
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