As the second December deadline loomed Carlton and Granada proposed to the Independent Television Commission that they each

As the second December deadline loomed, Carlton and Granada proposed to the Independent Television Commission that they each put their excess 16 per cent of ITN shares into a deadlocked joint venture company.In December this took place, with neither company able to vote on the shares, thus avoiding the need to sell them cheap to meet the deadline. It was from these shares that the DMGT sale was made.Last year ITN had a turnover of pounds 89m and made a pounds 15.3m profit in the year to last December.The DMGT said that the purchase, which will be paid for in cash, was made through its Harmsworth Broadcasting Division. The remaining 12 per cent will be owned by a Carlton/Granada joint venture company, set up to hold their excess shares.The reduction of Carlton and Granada's ITN stakes has been a long-running saga. The move was forced upon them by the 1990 Broadcasting Act, which limited to 20 per cent individual shareholdings in the news provider which services ITV, Channel 4 and the soon-to-be launched Channel 5. The ITV companies said they were disappointed at having to sell their investments but were "delighted to be selling their shares to another professional news organisation".ITN will now be jointly owned by Carlton (20 per cent), Granada (20 per cent), DMGT (20 per cent), Reuter (18 per cent), Anglia TV and Scottish TV (5 per cent each).

They would cover areas like the Baltic, North Sea and English Channel.. The Daily Mail has bought a 20 per cent stake in ITN, maker of ITV's News At Ten, it was announced yesterday. In a joint statement, Granada and Carlton Communications said they had each sold a 10 per cent holding in the company to the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) for a combined total of pounds 20.4m. Policy-makers must listen more carefully to what fishermen themselves are saying," he said.He also unveiled plans for setting up regional committees to consider the management of EU fisheries. "Withdrawal from the CFP is a non-starter but it is crucial that there are reforms to the way it works. The move follows the Government's legal defeat at the hands of the Spanish trawler fleet.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that one country cannot stop trawlers from another member state sharing its quota.Now claims worth about pounds 30m are in the pipeline from Spanish boat owners who were excluded from UK waters after registering in British ports to qualify for British fish quotas.Mr Baldry said that the system must change, adding: "Allocations of national quotas should be for the benefit of fishing communities in the member state concerned - not for fishermen from another country."But he ruled out any British pull-out from the Common Fisheries Policy as demanded by some ministers and trawlermen in the wake of the courtroom defeat. Denmark, Norway and Iceland account for the great majority of industrial fishing off Europe, with Britain trailing in fourth place.Unilever's announcement came as European Union fisheries ministers met in Brussels yesterday to discuss fish quotas.Britain's fisheries minister, Tony Baldry, also launched a campaign to return Britain's fishing waters to the United Kingdom fleet.He warned that the Common Fisheries Policy could regain credibility only if it clamped down on "quota-hoppers" who plunder another nation's EU fish catch allocation - with the blessing of Brussels. Unilever uses 100,000 tonnes of fish oil a year, a quarter of the total made from this catch in European waters, for products as diverse as cosmetics, cakes and biscuits and hair conditioner.These small fish are an important food source for sea birds, seals and porpoises, and also for larger fish species which are heavily preyed on by Europe's fishing fleets.Scientists agree that cod and haddock have been overfished for years in the North Sea, and there is a risk of the stocks collapsing. In a major victory for conservationists, one of the world's largest multinationals is to boycott the industrial fishing which is putting the North Sea ecosystem in jeopardy. Unilever yesterday announced that within a year it would stop using all oils derived from industrial fishing in European waters.

This fishery catches more than 1 million tonnes of small fish at the base of the food chain each year and is unregulated by the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy. The Anglo Dutch conglomerate, which owns the Bird's Eye brand, said it now accepted this catch of sprat, whiting, pout and sandeels was unsustainable and destructive. But, more significantly, through satellite technology, it would provide viewing platforms offering the chance to interact with major cities and natural environments "live" across the world. The Royal Geographical Society, which is backing the project, hopes to gain significantly through the construction of an international network of environmental research programmes linked to the project.But the scheme is dependent on part-funding from the Millennium Commission, which is due to announce its "long-list" of submissions this week.. The public could be given the opportunity to get a glimpse of deserts, savannah or rainforests several thousand miles away without having to travel further than London.