ITV boss Charles Allen publicly threw down the gauntlet to the government during the official unveiling of Meridian TV's digital-age £6.5m regional television centre in Hampshire.

He criticised £200m of broadcasting taxes that Meridian and parent company ITV paid to the Treasury last year while rivals BBC, Sky and Channel 4 enjoyed exemptions.

Mr Allen, one of Britain's top media moguls, vowed to plough the equivalent amount of money into broadcasting - much of it regional - if Labour waived the controversial fees. The influential figure also took a pop at those who feared local news coverage would be cut back in £100m of cost-cutting after last year's £4 billion merger between Carlton and Meridian-owning Granada, which created ITV Plc.

But Mr Allen said: "We've been accused of seeking to get out of regional news - even as we have spent million of pounds in Meridian and £40m nationwide in updating our facilities.

"There were fears that the regional and sub-regional focus of our programmes would be diluted.

"In fact the technology empowers our journalists, letting them get closer to the stories."

Meridian's regional TV production centre at Whiteley, near Fareham, is the most advanced of its kind in Europe as ITV rolls out digital broadcasting, which improves both the quality of programmes beamed into our homes and the way news packages are put together.

The centre was opened in front of VIP guests yesterday by media minister Lord McIntosh of Haringey, who appeared unrattled by the taxes broadside from Mr Allen.

Lord McIntosh, unveiling a plaque, said: "Regional programming and production are examples of the best service television and I hope that we will continue to see investment in studios such as this so that all the regions can continue to produce high quality, entertaining programmes for their viewers."

Meridian's move from its seven-acre studios in Southamp-ton last year to 20,000 sq ft of space at the plush Forum One offices in Whiteley, where 140 staff are now based, was not without controversy.

Seventy-five employees lost their jobs out of a local workforce of 300-plus as the streamlining merger went ahead.

Those at yesterday's unveiling, which was followed by a three-course lunch, included Meridian Tonight anchorman Fred Dinenage and MPs David Chidgey, Sandra Gidley, Mark Oaten, Peter Viggers and Alan Whitehead.

Read The Dream Factory - a history of the Meridian Northam studios and a look at the new studios at Whiteley. Available online by going to http://www.shoppersworld.co.uk/ and searching for 'Dream Factory'