FORMER ITV boss Michael Green is to get a £15m pay-off following his ousting from the merged broadcaster.

Mr Green, 56, whose hopes of becoming chairman were blocked by shareholders, received a cash-plus-shares package for his final year as chairman of Carlton Communications, which merged with Granada last month.

In addition to compensation of £1.8m for loss of office, Mr Green picked up £13.2m in share awards triggered by the merger - despite never having a formal contract with Carlton during his 20-year tenure as chairman.

Payments were approved at the Carlton annual meeting in January and were made on top of his salary of £843,000, annual bonus of £670,000 and benefits worth £47,000.

The size of the severance package has sparked further discontent among ITV shareholders, who led a revolt against Mr Green becoming chairman of the broadcaster following the merger.

Details of Mr Green's severance package, disclosed in Carlton's annual report filed with the UK listings authority, came as ITV reported signs of an upturn in advertising revenues.

The group said anticipated revenues in the first quarter to March 31 from ITV1 and ITV2 rose by £4m against the same period last year.

ITV, which said last month that 200 jobs would go with the closure of its Nottingham studios, said its integration was progressing well and that plans to save £100m were on track.

Chief executive Charles Allen said the current schedule performance for this year was encouraging, with an outstanding performance from the third series of I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!

Mr Allen said: "We are now focused more than ever on delivering what viewers, advertisers and shareholders want from ITV and we are seeing the results coming through."