Editing ABC Weekend TV (section)

====ITN====
ABC's late entry into Independent Television meant that some of the details of how the new system would run were already agreed between the ITA regulator and the other three contractors. ABC felt that some of these details were unfair on itself as the smallest contractor, and the only contractor that broadcast only at weekends.<ref name="Howard6">{{cite web |last1=Graham |first1=Russ J |title=Howard Thomas Part 6: The ITA |url=https://transdiffusion.org/blog/2005/09/02/howard6/ |website=Transdiffusion |publisher=The Transdiffusion Organisation |access-date=16 June 2022 |date=2 September 2005}}</ref>

In particular, ABC objected to paying one-quarter of the costs for [[Independent Television News|ITN]], provider of national news broadcasts for the network, as there would be fewer news programmes at the weekend than on weekdays. ABC's managing director Howard Thomas, former head of [[Pathé News]], felt that ABC could provide its own news for a fraction of ITN's price, but the ITA would not allow this: regional companies were responsible only for regional news, and national news should be independent of the regional companies. ABC lobbied both ITN and the ITA for change, which eventually resulted in a cutback to the amount of programming to be provided by ITN to the network and a substantial reduction in ITN's costs.<ref name="Howard6" />