ITV must now be a bargain. The current team clearly are an issue but you'd think the big American companies would recognise the bargain.

The yield is also high and can be reinvested. That really does limit the down side. You can even win here if it drops further!

Bought the March and still have a daily

Ratings for the X Factor final dipped to a 10-year low on Saturday, despite attracting more than a third of the available audience.

The ITV talent show drew an average audience of 8.4 million, including those watching on catch up services.

Only 2004 drew lower ratings, when 8.1 million watched Steve Brookstein become the first ever X Factor champion.

Its on its way to a 220-225 price range before moving higher

Well that's my long term target hit 230p taken a good chunk of profit of the table. Left a couple of SB's to run.

Well done Chris , you played it well

Thanks alders.

Yes, well done Chris - it's nice to have a hobby that makes you money - helps to pay for the golf equipment!!

Very true db :0)

On the move, added on the spreads (Mar) @ 227.41

Full year results 4th March.

ITV boosted by advertising hopes
The broadcaster was the biggest riser in the FTSE 100, surpassing Sky that gained on well-received results



By Ben Martin6:25PM GMT 04 Feb 2015 CommentsComment
Sky may have drawn attention with an impressive set of results, but investors were more tuned-in to ITV on Wednesday amid hopes the company will receive an advertising boost this year.
Shares in ITV climbed 8.1p to 230.6p, a 3.6pc gain that was the biggest in the FTSE 100, after Credit Suisse analysts told clients that a poll of two of the UK’s biggest media buyers, carried out by the broker this week, suggested that the free-to-air broadcaster would benefit from better than expected ad growth.
Net advertising revenues at ITV may increase by 11.8pc during the first quarter, boosted by the restrictions caused by May’s General Election, they forecast.
“Buyers highlight that a combination of strong pricing inflation and high demand means they are feeling confident about the TV market in 2015,” the analysts said.
Government spending has been “skewed” into the first quarter of the year “ahead of the purdah, the six week pre-election period during which government advertising is prohibited”, they noted.


The Rugby World Cup, which takes place over September and October and will be exclusively broadcast on ITV, is also expected to give the group a lift during the third and fourth quarters.
As a result, the analysts lifted their forecast for TV advertising growth this year from 3.1pc to 5.3pc, much higher than consensus expectations for 2.7pc.
The bullish assessment of ITV’s advertising prospects meant shares in the group outperformed those of pay-TV broadcaster Sky, which added 12½p, or 1.3pc, to 955½p in the wake if its first set of earnings since buying Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia in November.

Chris

You have the same spread as me (Mar) @ 227 , but mine was placed about a week ago, is it about to close the gap at 240 - 245, have i read the chart right

alders - Chart is looking very good, let's see what happens.

Profit taking at 231 ? and news of BT bid for EE takes BT out of companys who were in the frame to bid for ITV

Predicting which companies will be battling it out for Premier League rights can leave you looking a little stupid.

In 2012 - the last time the package of 154 matches was bid for - BT stormed, unannounced, into the market and gained the rights to 38 matches.

They would have liked many more and were only prevented from taking a greater share by Sky lodging an aggressive second round bid.

This time around, Discovery, the owners of Eurosport, has done little to dampen speculation that it might be in the running.

And it would be difficult to the point of impossible to imagine that BT and Sky will not lodge major bids in their attempt to become - or remain - the "home of football".

As the former chairman of ITV, Lord Grade, told me, there is little more valuable than football for telecommunication and broadcasting businesses.

And he should know, having led ITV's successful £160m bid for Champions League rights in 2008.

"The audience that top quality live football attracts is hugely valued by advertisers - the beer, the cars," he said.

"It would have been seen by the advertisers, our pay masters, if we had lost [the rights], that money would have gone to whoever won [them]. It was absolutely crucial, but not at any price."

"Not at any price" is the key phrase. It is expected that bids will top £4bn this time around.

And with bids binding and sealed, broadcasters have to aim as high as they feel they dare.

"It's agony," Lord Grade said of the process.

"With more and more competition, you don't know who is out there. BT must have taken Sky by surprise.

"You don't know what Google is up to, or Amazon. Anyone could be out there, it is terrifying.

"You have to keep your nerve and work out what your walk-away price is before you get into the auction."

The cost of winning rights has certainly been on a vertiginous path. In 2012, the price rose by 77%.

"There is no doubt that the inflation in sports rights has been quite dramatic over the last ten years," Lord Grade said.

"That really reflects the market.

"You pay more for the best, and the Premier League is the best.

"People are not going to overpay for things that are worth it. Sport delivers. It drives audiences, it is a banker like no other."

And therefore possibly better, Lord Grade says, than investing £20m in a drama that viewers might not like.

It would certainly be a big blow if Sky lost another significant part of its football empire.

Don't forget, BT is now also the owner of rights to the Champions League, a contract it took off Sky and ITV .

Jeremy Darroch, Sky's chief executive, has diversified Sky's broadcasting offer, investing heavily in drama in particular.

So, football is certainly not as essential as it was.

Nevertheless, investors will be as twitchy as Sky executives over the results of this year's bidding, the results of which are likely to be announced next week.

I'll leave the final word to Lord Grade: "Sky is very resilient, and it will reinvent itself, but how many years it would take if it lost all the Premier League I wouldn't like to say.

"It would be very seriously damaging."

Kamal Ahmed Article written by Kamal Ahmed
Kamal Ahmed

This part is interesting


Jeremy Darroch, Sky's chief executive, has diversified Sky's broadcasting offer, investing heavily in drama in particular.

So, football is certainly not as essential as it was.


So anyone who looses out of the bidding will maybe turn there attention to ITV

And this: "You don't know what Google is up to, or Amazon. Anyone could be out there, it is terrifying.

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Sold all my march spreads this morning @231 , didn't have time to place a trailing stop