Shareholders in the two companies are reported to be concerned that the proposed management line-up of Granada chairman Charles Allen as chief executive and Carlton Communications chairman Michael Green as chairman of the new company will clash.
Both companies are to bring three non-executive directors to the combined business, and this is also thought to be a cause of concern because it is feared that the two sides may not be able to agree with one another.
Carlton and Granada are believed to be resisting bringing in an independent executive to manage the deal. However, shareholders are said to be keen to force the issue.
Granada gave some ground last week when it responded to shareholder calls for a heavyweight outside director to be appointed to its board by naming James Crosby, chief executive of one of the UK's largest banks HBOS, as a non-executive director. It was the first appointment to the Granada board since the broadcaster announced its £2.6bn merger with ITV partner Carlton last month.
Meanwhile, claims by Granada last week that a £250m writedown was due to its digital broadcasting business are being dismissed in the City.
Analysts, including Merrill Lynch's Neil Blackley and Morgan Stanley's Sarah Simon, have been reported in the weekend press as saying they believe the costs are a result of Granada's acqusition of the Meridian and Anglia franchises in 2000 from United Business Media.
Granada, which last week reported full-year losses of £378m, said the £250m charge related to its digital broadcasting business. It said that the government's plans to switch off the analogue signal in 2010 would likely take another four years.
Granada said this indicates that the value of digital goodwill has been 'impaired', according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
Granada bought United Business Media's ITV assets for £1.75bn -- a figure that many believed was vastly overpriced -- in November 2000.
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