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ITV is seeking a new sponsor for Who Wants to be a Millionaire

after Alliance & Leicester decided not to renew its £3m

sponsorship of the flagship programme.

Alliance & Leicester stepped in to sponsor Millionaire in February after

NTL, which had been due to sponsor the programme, pulled out at the 11th

hour.

However, according to Manning Gottlieb Media's group media director

Marco Ramos, who negotiated the deal on behalf of Alliance & Leicester,

the sponsorship has achieved its objective of raising awareness of the

bank's new 'Making questions work' brand campaign, through D'Arcy.

Carlton, which is handling the sponsorship of Millionaire, is believed

to have placed a price tag of about £3m on series ten, which

according to the Carlton web site, will go out twice a week in the

autumn. Advertisers will also have the option to sponsor an interactive

version of Millionaire available via ITV2. Interactive Millionaire will

enable ITV2 viewers to respond to the questions using their remote

controls as they are posed by Millionaire host Chris Tarrant, and

collect points throughout the show.

Carlton head of sponsorship Andy Thompson said he is currently talking

to a number of sponsors and expects to make a decision shortly.

Previous sponsors of Millionaire include Jacobs Bakery, which sponsored

three series, and The Sun.

Millionaire is expected to be part of ITV's new-look Saturday night

schedule, helping to build audiences between the 7pm screening of The

Premiership and late evening entertainment, such as films.