Stvg Share News (STVG)

Scottish broadcasting group STV is back in ITV's good books after the pair came to an out of court settlement regarding their various legal disputes.All current and proposed legal actions have ceased with immediate effect and the terms of the settlement include an £18m payment by STV to terrestrial broadcaster ITV to settle the court claims.STV will pay £7.2m in cash this year, with the remainder of the settlement to be either paid in cash or via the granting of programme rights, depending on further discussions between the two broadcasters.The programming rights payment is capped at £15.0m. In addition, STV will receive £2.4m of credit for programme opt outs in 2011 giving a net cash impact of the settlement of £4.8m. STV expects to book an exceptional charge as a result of this settlement of around £9.0m in this year's 2011 results, in addition to the current provisions."I am pleased that we have reached a wide ranging settlement with ITV and that our two organisations can work collaboratively in future for the benefit of the Channel 3 Network. STV is committed to the Channel 3 Network and we will also continue to pursue our strategy of building on our leading position as Scotland's digital media company," said STV's chief executive, Rob Woodward.Adam Crozier, Woodward's counterpart at ITV, was similarly enthused with bonhomie. "We are very pleased that this long running legal dispute with STV has been settled by way of an £18m payment to ITV. We look forward to working closely with STV in the future," Crozier said.The decision by the two parties to kiss and make up has removed a considerable element of uncertainty hanging over STV. Some pundits had suggested that it could have paid more than £21m had it lost its legal battle with ITV, which has been running since 2009, and was sparked by STV's decision to opt out of airing some networked programmes.STV's statement said the two companies have agreed the basis of a much more collaborative relationship for the future which will avoid a recurrence of the issues which resulted in legal action.---jh