British commercial TV broadcaster ITV today set a 2004 launch date for a new third channel and said it aimed to triple revenue from its non-terrestrial stations in three years.
ITV unveiled a new target to make £150m sterling of revenues from its digital channels - ITV2, ITV news channel and the soon-to-be-launched ITV3 - by 2007.
ITV said its net advertising revenues had improved and were up around 4.9% in the six months to June. The firm controls more than half of the UK commercial advertising market.
The broadcaster, born out of the merger of TV companies Carlton and Granada earlier this year, said it was on track to pocket £100m of cost savings from the marriage and was achieving the savings faster than planned.
ITV said it would launch its ITV3 channel, aimed at the over-35s, in the fourth quarter of this year. It also said it would double the programming budget of its ITV2 channel, spending the extra cash on sports rights, US series and movies.
The launch of ITV3 and the additional investment in ITV2 would amount to £36m, the broadcaster said.
