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ITV boss Adam Crozier admits 'a lot needs fixing'

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Adam Crozier
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Mr Crozier says ITV must move more into pay-per-view broadcasting

ITV is a "fairly dysfunctional organisation" and "there is a lot that needs fixing", its boss has warned.

Adam Crozier, the broadcaster's chief executive, admitted that ITV had failed to keep up with the changes in the "media landscape".

He told Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4's Today programme ITV needed to move more into pay-per-view broadcasting and the internet.

But he said he "can't envisage a situation" where viewers would have to pay to watch its main ITV1 channel.

Mr Crozier, who took up the top job at ITV in April after leaving Royal Mail, said he had spent his first months at the company trying to make sure he had "a very clear view" of the issues that the broadcaster faced.

"ITV has great programmes and a great brand, the key is rebalancing the business to be much less reliant upon free-to-air advertising," he said.

"What we need to do is turn the organisation around to get it fit for purpose and start competing in these new markets [of pay-per-view and online]."

ITV has already started efforts to move into pay-per-view, announcing earlier this month that it will launch three new high definition channels via Sky in the autumn - ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD.

At present its single high definition channel, ITV1 HD, is available for free via Freesat, Freeview, Sky and Virgin.

ITV also reported earlier this month that it had returned to profit, announcing a pre-tax profit of £97m for the first half of the year thanks to higher advertising revenues. In the same period last year it had reported a loss of £105m.

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