A review currently on-going at the morning television franchise, GMTV, which is now owned by the independent television operator ITV Plc in the United Kingdom, could see its news operations merged with those of the dedicated news provider ITN.  Currently, GMTV has its own newsroom, team of journalists, and two very highly paid presenters, namely John Stapleton and Penny Smith who anchor an hour of news between 6am and 7am.  This comes directly after a half-hour news roundup provided by ITN, which produces all of ITV's main news bulletins.

ITV are keen to cut costs, with the network's chairman Archie Norman looking to make savings of at least 20% at GMTV.  The two news presenters at GMTV, who are on air for only 5 hours per week, currently take home combined, £425,000 per year.  John Stapleton, who has been at GMTV for 16 years, is earning £250,000 whilst Penny Smith picks up £175,000.

It is estimated that a move to combine the newsrooms of GMTV and ITN could result in the loss of between 50 and 100 staff members.

An ITV source told the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper; "Discussions about this process are already at an advanced stage. It makes sense for ITN to do all the news on GMTV, including bulletins and broadcasts live from breaking stories.

But if they do that, it would mean big changes to the first hour of GMTV, and that wouldn't be good news for John or Penny. They are both big earners and it may make sense to just use ITN newsreaders and journalists to front the show at a much lower cost."

A 'newsroom' source also told the Mirror; "At the moment there is a situation where during big news events we are doubling up with journalists from GMTV and ITN both on the scene. It doesn't make any financial sense and it is such an obvious and easy way to make cuts.

ITN already has around 750 staff, so whilst some GMTV journalists may be kept on, there are sure to be some on their way out. This could save huge amounts of costs.  We are talking millions of pounds every year. It would also be a way of developing the programme and possibly making the news more up to date for less money."

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