Solent TV - Financial Issues

Financial Issues

The company's publicly available bank details revealed it lost almost £1,000,000 in the 2006 financial year, more than double its losses in 2005.

Although Solent TV managers denied approaching Isle of Wight Council for a rumoured £100,000 to keep it running while a rescue package was sought, senior councillor David Pugh was a guest on IW Radio's Alex Dyke phone-in in the days after Solent went off the air. He stated on the record that the council had been approached by Solent TV seeking financial help but the request had been turned down, saying 'We are not here to bail out failed companies. Could you imagine the public backlash and the precedent that would set if we said yes?' He acknowledged that Council Leader Andy Sutton had written a letter of support for any potential investors, but no one was willing to step forward.

The company later acknowledged in a statement that it was searching for new investors but talks had failed.

On 23 August 2007, it was announced the Charities Commission would be meeting with Isle of Wight MP Andrew Turner to discuss why the warning signs that Solent TV and parent company Island Volunteers were not acted on. Andrew Turner said he wanted to know if job losses could have been prevented, and if public money was misused due to the collapse. At the time, Island Volunteers itself had been criticised for cutting other services so it could concentrate on Solent TV, including removing a service that offered free home improvements for elderly people.

In mid-September, an article in the Isle of Wight County Press revealed that Solent TV's parent company Island Volunteers had spent £2.3m over five years. Island MP Andrew Turner said his meeting with the Charities Commission had been productive, and an investigation was under way in how the money was spent and if public funds had been misused.

Earlier in 2007, Solent TV director Linda Ovnik went on record stating that not 10p of public money had been spent on the station. The parent companies of Solent TV were largely funded by public or charitable money and it was suggested at the time of the collapse that this money was used to support Solent TV.

In September 2007, it was revealed several former Solent TV staff - who lost their jobs when the station went bust - won a tribunal hearing for £17,000 claiming unfair dismissal.