John McCann, the chief executive of UTV, the ITV broadcaster in Northern Ireland, has accused Michael Grade's ITV plc of taking millions of pounds in benefits without sharing a penny with his company.

Mr McCann is backed by Rob Woodward, chief executive of SMG, of Scotland, with the two independent ITV companies launching an attack against a demand for more cash to pay for ITV1 programmes.

“ITV plc gets subsidy benefits from repeating ITV1 shows on its digital channels and from on-air cross-promotion that we carry that run into the three-figure millions - and we've never seen any of that returned to us,” Mr McCann said.

ITV plc, the company run by Mr Grade, owns 92 per cent of ITV1; UTV and SMG own most of the balance. UTV contributes about £10 million and SMG about £15 million a year to ITV1's programme budget.

Ten days ago, Mr Grade said that UTV and SMG were paying too little, prompting a furious reaction from the two small companies. UTV's pre-tax earnings were £14.7 million last year; SMG's earnings, before exceptionals, were £4.4 million.

In a letter to Ofcom, UTV estimated that ITV plc received £75 million-£125 million in benefits from ITV1 programmes across its digital channels. UTV also complained that, since ITV plc had cut costs at ITV1, it had not received any of the savings.

Mr Woodward, the chief executive of SMG, owner of Scottish Television, said that his company would also be writing to Ofcom. “ITV plc has been selective in its analysis, and we will set out the facts soon,” he said.

Payments made by the small ITV companies to the ITV1 programme budget are regulated by Ofcom. The two companies believe that ITV plc would struggle to charge more in a free market - ITV plc is thought to receive about £8 million a year from TV3, a broadcaster in the Republic of Ireland, for its schedule.

ITV plc did not comment.

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