IN MY VIEW - Sarah Thane, ITC director of advertising and programmes.

This week, the Independent Television Commission and ITV published their agreement on a new Charter for nations and regions, a plan to modernise ITV's national and regional output. In anticipation of Ofcom and, as the prospect of a single ITV - UK or foreign-owned, looks more likely, it is vital to secure the interests of viewers outside London now.Research continues to show that viewers value regional programming as an essential part of ITV's service, not least in providing a comprehensive alternative to BBC. Accessibility and quality are seen as key.The original minimum targets for regional programme services which the ITC set - in an essentially four-channel era in 1991 - have been overdelivered in hours but latterly investment hasn't followed. More hours, poorly funded and increasingly marginalised in the schedules, is not a good deal for viewers or producers. So we have worked with ITV to switch the focus to investment and to produce fewer hours but of higher quality and shown in or near peaktime.Viewers want television to use local talent and to contribute to the local economy, as well as to depict their region. And ITV has agreed for the first time to investment targets for out-of-London production, with a minimum of 50 per cent of expenditure on originated programmes. ITV has also announced a further #1m investment in regional programmes and a £2m additional fund for network production outside London in 2002/3.The charter also brings a necessary strengthening of ITV's regional accountability as ITV consolidates. The companies have committed to appointing regional advisory groups and two non-executive directors to regional company boards, in addition to existing locally based managing directors.The ITC's first priority is its commitment to viewers and the ITC has focused on the core regional services particularly valued by viewers. These are strong local news and current affairs, in addition to a range of interesting and relevant programmes, with a weekly minimum of hours of first-run programming for the nations and regions.The agreement is forward-looking, anticipating more pressures on regional production as competition grows and ITV consolidates. Securing now, and in the communications bill, commitments to a high proportion of out-of-London ITV production is a major plus.