ITV increases appeal to potential merger partners by closing final salary pension scheme

Broadcaster ITV is to close its final salary pension scheme to existing members, according to newspaper reports.

The move, designed to ease ITV’s £325m pension deficit, would affect about a quarter of the firm’s 6,000 staff.

The report of the plan comes days after ITV received a tentative merger approach from cable operator NTL.

Cutting its pensions liability would make ITV more attractive to potential buyers, analysts predict.

Under new plans, an estimated 1,500 existing staff would be paid a pension based on their career average earnings, rather than a proportion of their final salary, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Any proposals to change the scheme are likely to provoke anger among broadcasting unions.