BELFAST-BASED media comp- any UTV was thrown into turmoil yesterday as its chairman John B McGuckian and two non-executive directors, Shane Reihill and Kevin Lagan, resigned from their positions following a row with other board members.

UTV informed the stock market that a majority of its board had voted to remove Mr McGuckian as chairman of the company at a meeting held yesterday morning.

“A majority of the members of the board consisting of Roy Bailie, Helen Kirkpatrick, John McCann, Scott Taunton and Norman McKeown considered that Mr McGuckian’s close association with TVC, a major shareholder of UTV, had compromised his independence to such an extent that they no longer considered it appropriate for him to continue as chairman,” the company said.

A statement released on behalf of Mr McGuckian and Mr Lagan said the UTV board had acted in a manner “contrary to the UK Corporate Governance Code”.