UTV.L Share News (UTV)

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Broadcaster UTV Media Plc, whichis in talks for a potential sale of its television assets, saidfirst-half turnover at its fledgling Irish television channelfell below expectations as growth in audience numbers sloweddown.

The company said it was implementing a plan to address theaudience shortfall at the unit, UTV Ireland, which would includemeasures such as stronger domestic programming and moreeffective marketing.

UTV Ireland, which has been operational for less than ayear, posted a turnover of 4.9 million pounds ($7.56 million)for the six months ended June 30, hurt also by teething issuessuch as the re-tuning of domestic digital receivers. ($1 = 0.6486 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru;Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)