Michael Grade under pressure at ITV

Staff at ITV are not taking the swingeing cutbacks introduced by Michael Grade, the company’s executive chairman, sitting down. This morning 35 executives delivered a petition to Grade (pictured) and John Cresswell, ITV's chief operating officer, complaining about the compulsory redundancy of the broadcaster's director of factual and entertainment, Jim Allen.

"Jim is a creative powerhouse who has been key to the enormous growth of factual and factual entertainment in ITV Studios in recent years," the letter said. "Not only is he a great generator of ideas, he brings out the best in people, inspiring his team to greater creativity and ambition."

The letter adds that Allen’s team has been responsible for such ratings successes as Hell's Kitchen, Come Dine With Me, Celebrity Fit Club, Dancing on Ice and I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here!.

Meanwhile, it seems Grade will soon not have an TV station to run if there is any truth in the persistent rumours that Al Jazeera, the Arabic news servcie, is planning to make an audacious takeover bid.

The London Evening Standard reports that the Tory minister Baroness Rawlings put the speculation about a takeover to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson last week, asking if the Government and Ofcom could "give credence to the recent rumours that Al Jazeera is interested in purchasing ITV or Channel 4?". To this question, the nimble-footed Mandelson replied, "My Lords, I have not heard any information about such an exotic proposal" but said that he would "be keeping my ears open".

While ITV announced losses of £2.7 billion last year and looks set to cut 600 jobs, Al Jazeera has proved a success, winning praise for its coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And if it needed money to finance such a takeover, the station need only have a word with the Emir of Qatar, who put up the $150m start-up capital when the station was founded in 1996.