[JMT1985]

Sounds similar to the reason Paul O'Grady defected to Channel 4.

I remember Paul's defection to Channel 4 - it happened in January 2006, when he said they had forgotten about him, and took him for granted, they literally thought he would renew with them, and so didn't bother to start discussions about a new contract, which Paul wanted to talk with them, as he wanted some changes. 

The biggest change wanted was control of the show, with his own production company Olga TV producing the show instead of ITV plc producing it - ITV wouldn't let that happen which was probably one big reason he jumped. 

When he did move to Channel 4, ITV turned nasty towards him, refusing him access to Studio 2 at The London Studios to continue to produce his show, even though The London Studios was a commercial entity and anyone from any channel could hire then, ITV banned him for over a year, which led to him using Studio TC6 at BBC Television Centre in London until around autumn 2007 I believe when finally they relented and allowed him back to TLS. 

Second, he was told by his lawyer to rename the show to "The New Paul O'Grady Show" as ITV were thinking of hitting him with copyright claims, and also they decided to repeat his ITV shows up against his new version. 

Just shows you how vindictive ITV can become when they want to be.