Andrew McCormick and Fiona Ramsay, Media Week, 29 April 2008, 07:30am

UKTV reviews media planning business

LONDON - UKTV, the pay-TV broadcaster half-owned by Virgin Media TV, has called a review of its £3.5m media planning and buying account, currently held by Omnicom's PHD, as it nears a rebrand of its channel portfolio this autumn.

UKTV, which counts BBC Worldwide as its other shareholder, called the pitch just as Virgin Media TV has appointed Goodstuff and Manning Gottlieb OMD to handle its £5m media planning and buying.

PHD has held UKTV's media account for nine years, having survived a 2004 review, undertaken to ensure the broadcaster was getting the best value for money. The latest review comes as UKTV plans to relaunch its pay-TV portfolio, following the success of Dave, the channel rebranded from G2 last October.

It is expected that UKTV's nine TV channels, which include UKTV Gold, UKTV Drama and UKTV Style, will be given stronger individual creative identities, instead of drawing on the UKTV group branding.

The pitch is being overseen by Tom Lucas, director of marketing and communications, who joined UKTV from ITV last autumn. Intermediary firm Creative Brief has been employed to handle the review.

Promoting TV duo Richard and Judy's new show, scheduled for an autumn launch, is likely to be a major part of the winning agency's brief. The new series will air on an unspecified new-look channel, which is getting a £1.4m budget. According to Nielsen Media Research, UKTV spent £3.3m on media in the 12 months to April 2008.

Julia Jordan, UKTV executive director business and operations, said: "We have launched a competitive agency review as, following the success of Dave, we are making so many changes.

"PHD will be part of the pitch as we have had a long and fruitful relationship with them. With the launch of Richard and Judy in October, we want the best platform for that and we will be looking at our branding activity, so it is a healthy thing for us to do."

Jordan said UKTV would be boosting marketing support for its channels, which she added had been "low key".

Virgin Media TV handed its media planning to Goodstuff and its buying account to Manning Gottlieb OMD. Eleven Virgin Group companies now house their media spend in MG OMD, including Virgin Media, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Holidays. Carat, Starcom and Mediaedge:cia were all involved, while MG OMD's sister Omnicom agency and incumbent PHD Rocket did not repitch.