JUST before 11am on Wednesday, an urgent message rippled through ITV’s headquarters, through several runners, and up to the presentation room near the top of the tower block on London’s South Bank.

There, with immaculate timing, the words were whispered to Simon Shaps, ITV’s new director of television, as he rose to address an audience of City analysts.

The sharply dressed, smooth-headed programmer couldn’t resist a smile: “The ratings have just come through. Last night 18.2m people watched ITV’s screening of the England-Sweden game. That’s 81% of Britain’s total viewers on commercial television.”

The figure neatly illustrated Shaps’s key message: television land has become increasingly fragmented with lots of niche players, but ITV still puts on the biggest show in town.

Over the next half hour Shaps produced graphs, charts and video clips to illustrate ITV’s size and clout in terms of viewers and advertisers as well as its ability to innovate and grow.

It was just one of the presentations delivered over two days to analysts and journalists by a battery of senior ITV managers led by Charles Allen, chief executive. Each director was presented as the new face of a changing ITV, their introductions backed by snappy videos, loud music and figures projected over the next 10 years.

But the performance failed to impress investors, who seemed more concerned with ITV’s troubled present than its promises of a bright future.

Despite the news that ITV would give more cash back to shareholders and had found another £100m cost savings, the share price hardly moved. In the three months since Greg Dyke’s private-equity approach the shares have plummeted from 128p to lows of 100p. Advertising revenue in July is expected to fall below £100m for the first time in 12 years, with media buyers forecasting £88m-£90m, a drop of 23% to 25%. August levels are expected to be even lower.

Once more Allen’s future at the top of ITV is in doubt. His departure has been predicted for years but, say television insiders, this time his job is well and truly on the line.

ITV turned 50 last year and is showing its age. Originally it was the only alternative to the BBC and this put it on such a sound footing that by 1993 ITV1 was holding on to 40% of British viewers despite competition from Sky and Channel 4. But as its competitors have launched more channels, ITV’s share has fallen to just over 20%.

Competition from the internet and digital media has rocked every sector of the media in recent years. But many analysts believe ITV should be doing better. Between 1993 and 2003 BBC1’s share of the national audience also dropped. But the fall, from 33% to 25.6%, was less dramatic. And the BBC’s publicly funded digital strategy and new channels have been a great success compared with ITV’s often disastrous forays into new technology.

One investor said: “It’s been a tough time for ITV, as with all terrestrial channels. Allen has done well to weather the storm — but can he really bring ITV out on top?”

A sign that the answer is no came last month when Fidelity, ITV’s biggest shareholder with a 12.5% stake, backed Goldman and Blackstone’s audacious bid for the company. Allen managed to fend off the bid, but he will not be relaxing. Three years ago Anthony Bolton, Fidelity’s “quiet assassin”, stormed the Carlton/Granada merger that created ITV and ousted chairman Michael Green.

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