Welsh indie commissions drop by a third

Cardiff-based Boomerang produce Freesports on 4

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Commissions from Welsh indies fell by a third in 2007, with all ITV1 orders coming from outside of the nation.

Pact's annual Production Trend Report reveals that the number of hours of network production made in Wales fell from 119 hours in 2006 to 99 hours in 2007. In-house production in the nation grew from 47.5 hours to 51.3 hours, but this was offset by a fall in independent commissioning from 71 hours to 47.8 hours.

Scotland's share of ITV1 commissions almost halved, down from 19 hours to 10 hours.

The nation's network hours rose by 13% to 298 hours, reversing several years of decline, but the BBC was the only broadcaster to order more hours than in previous years. The corporation doubled its Scotland hours from 55 to 101, including 19 hours of IWC Media's factual entertainment show Homes Live.

ITV commissioned four hours from Northern Ireland, whose volume of overall network commissions fell from 20 hours to 16 hours. Five commissioned no programmes from the nation last year.

Pact's report shows that 64% of network television was produced in London last year. It also paints a picture of the volatility of regions dependent on high-volume, low-cost quiz shows and sports coverage for their share of network commissions.

The North West was the largest supplier of network programming outside of London, up 115% year-on-year to 2,236 hours. However, the growth was only temporary: ITV1's late night quiz shows Make Your Play and Glitterball, which accounted for 1,300 of these hours, have been axed.

The South East offered them a sign of things to come: the region saw a 58% reduction in network hours last year after late night quiz The Mint ceased broadcasting in February.

Production in the East of England fell 45% to 332 hours following the demise of Five's late-night quiz shows The Great Big Quiz and The Great British Quiz.

Five commissions accounted for 89% of all network hours, with Trisha Goddard's show producing nearly half of the total network hours from the region.

Meanwhile, the BBC's darts and snooker coverage boosted the share of the North East and Midlands respectively. Production in Yorkshire and the Humber dropped 13% year-on-year to 801 hours, due in part to ITV scaling back TWI's snooker programming in the region by 55 hours.