BRITISH NETWORK REVIVES PAY PLATFORM

The head of ITV, Britain’s largest commercial network, conceded on Monday that it had “not faced up to the challenges presented by the rise of internet-based platforms, the continuing growth of pay TV and subscription services and the globalization of content.” Saying that ITV now aims to derive half its income from non-advertising sources, ITV CEO Adam Crozier said that the network’s first move will be to put three high-definition channels behind paywalls on News Corp-controlled BSkyB by fall. It will mark the reentry of ITV into pay television since its first effort, ITV Digital, launched in 1998 as OnDigital, collapsed in 2002.