- ITV chief speaks at Lords Communications and Digital Committee
ITV’s head of news said the tech platform was not giving UK news providers fair value due to an “unequal” relationship.
Michael Jarmy, the broadcaster’s director of news, said his company’s relationship with the tech giant was “not a properly commercial one”.
He told colleagues on the Rhodes Communications and Digital Committee this week that companies like his don’t know “what value is being extracted from their content.”
“In terms of our relationship with technology platforms, I think it’s an unequal relationship and I don’t think it’s an appropriate commercial relationship,” he told the committee investigating the future of news.
Mr Jermy added: “We don’t know what the algorithms are going to do. We don’t know what value is being extracted from the content.
And you still won’t be convinced when a California-based tech platform says the news doesn’t matter.
Yet, according to Ofcom’s digital research, consumers believe it is the UK’s third most important news platform.
“I think it’s an unequal relationship where a lot of the value creation comes from PSBs.” [public service broadcasters] But that value has not returned to them. ”
The ITV chief said he hoped more could be done over the next 10 years to build a “fair platform”.
Jermy said that while allowing these tech giants to “continue to generate traffic,” “content creators” can get value for their content and share the profits more “equitably.” He said he wanted it.