THE future of North-East broadcasting was under threat last night after industry regulator Ofcom allowed ITV to reduce dramatically its regional television prog-rammes.

Ofcom said that ITV could cut its non-news regional programmes by at least half, although North-East news will be unaffected by the changes.

But The Northern Echo can reveal that, on a more positive note, high-level talks have been held to press for a planned rival to the BBC in the digital age - proposed by Ofcom - to be based in the North-East.

The regulator plans to create the Public Service Publisher (PSP) to compete with the BBC and to develop new media platforms such as broadband, mobile and digital broadcasting, to deliver high-quality content.

The spending power of PSP will be £300m a year for ten years.

Because the North-East has a flourishing digital sector, it is believed the new public broadcasting service could be based here, which would attract creative companies to the region.

The Northern Echo has learned that an outline bid, drawn up by senior media figures in and outside the North-East, was submitted to Ofcom before Christmas. It argued there was a strong case to locate the PSP in the North-East.

Yesterday's report by Ofcom, Competition for Quality, said ITV should be able to cut back non-news regional programming from three to 1.5 hours a week, and then to half an hour after the digital switchover, which could begin as early as 2007.

The move means that North favourites, such as Grundy's Wonders, Past Crimes and Dales Diary could be lost, although Tyne Tees said last night these programmes were safe from the initial round of cuts to 1.5 hours.

But it is doubtful whether they will survive the final axe once the analogue switch-off goes ahead.

Ofcom also proposes to increase ITV1's quotas for out-of-London production to 50 per cent, with the creation of a £9m Production Partnership Fund to support the creative sector outside the capital.

The media regulator said the BBC should remain a cornerstone of public service broadcasting in the digital age "strong, independent and properly funded by the licence fee".

In its second report last year, Ofcom recommended the PSP to compete with the BBC in the digital age.

The PSP would use new media platforms such as mobile and digital broadcasting to broadcast public service programmes.

Parliament has asked Ofcom to report every five years on the health of public service broadcasting in television. Ofcom has been reporting on how to maintain public service broadcasting after digital switch-off, which is due to take place in 2012.

A Tyne Tees spokeswoman said last night that all its peak programmes in the 7.30pm slot - and the "near-peak" programmes at 11pm - would be kept on when regional broadcasting is cut to 1.5 hours.

But an industry insider said: "Once the switchover to digital goes ahead, none of these programmes will survive. There will be just half an hour a week of non-news programmes, and they will be based on current affairs.

"This will mean the end of everything outside of news."

ITV managing director Graeme Thompson said: "Viewing habits and tastes have changed dramatically in the last 50 years and, as the UK's biggest commercial channel, our schedule needs to reflect that."

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