REDUCTION IN ANGLIA TELEVISION REGIONAL PROGRAMMES

That this House pays tribute to the award-winning Anglia Television which from its inception as an independent television company produced programmes of national and international acclaim; notes that in recent years the quantity of programmes produced by Anglia TV has been severely curtailed under the national direction of ITV which has to all intents and purposes reduced regional identity to little more than regional news coverage, sport and current affairs totalling only a few hours a week; is appalled that even this level of regional programming faces further reduction by the abolition of the separate east and west editions of Anglia News which will cut by half the amount of regional news broadcast; and calls on the Government to insist that ITV does not further reduce distinctive regional television coverage in the East of England.