Following the announcement that ITV is to launch legal action against STV for £38million, STV has said that it has yet to be served with any claim and is "disappointed"with ITV’s actions.

ITV has said that it will sue STV, which has an outstanding debt of between £15-20million, following the Scottish broadcaster’s decision to opt out of more of ITV’s schedule in favour of broadcasting its own programmes.

In a statement, STV said that it would "vigorously defend its position" and its rights as a license holder to control its own schedule and opt-out in accordance with the Devolution Contract and relevant Networking Arrangements.

The statement said: “This is but one of a number of issues between STV and ITV, one of which is a claim against ITV relating to revenues which STV should have received under its Advertising Sales Agreement.

"Since early 2008 ITV has prevented STV's independent auditor, Deloitte, from carrying out a full review of all revenue related contracts which STV has the right to do. However, on the 5% of revenues which Deloitte has been able to review, a potential shortfall of approximately £2million (covering only 30 months of a six year period) was identified. STV will be pursuing this and further claims.”