The chief executive of ITV has hit out at the government's plans to ban junk food advertising until 9PM.
Dame Carolyn McCall said the company she leads had been fighting the ban "for some time", warning it could lead to losses of revenue in the millions.
"We’ve done loads of research to say this is not going to make a dent in childhood obesity. But it is a political thing and so we’re going to have to mitigate it in any way we can," she told a Royal Television Society (RTS) convention on Tuesday.
Last week, the UK Government confirmed it will press ahead with the ban from October 1 next year.
The policy was originally introduced by Boris Johnson's Conservative government in 2021, but was delayed by Rishi Sunak.
Broadcasters have long argued that it will make little difference to childhood obesity levels, while analysts estimate commercial broadcasters like ITV, Channel 4 and Sky will lose up to £200m a year in advertising revenue.
The rules will also ban the likes of YouTube and other streaming services from advertising junk food before 9PM, but Dame Carolyn argues most of ITV's daytime viewership are adults, with most children using streaming platforms online.
Last week, Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “These restrictions will help protect children from being exposed to advertising of less healthy food and drinks, which evidence shows influences their dietary preferences from a young age.”
Dame Carolyn boss admitted 2023 was a "really, really tough year", but insisted the ad market was on the up.
Despite that, she said remaining channels would be kept under review after it shut down its children channel CITV.