Mr Desmond said implications that the network would suffer as advertisers withdrew from spots in or close to news programmes were unfounded.

"Unlike the last Gulf War, where the element of surprise took media owners by surprise, this war has been widely telegraphed and we have been very pro-active in how we handle it. We will not lose money from this trading year," he told MediaGuardian.

Despite admitting that ITV had already received "a couple of deferrments" from travel companies, and that British Airways had "rolled back" a TV campaign due to start this weekend, Mr Desmond said the impact on ITV revenues would be minimal.

"Owing to the special dispensation we get from the regulator, those minutes that we lose from the news will be redeemed elsewhere. If it is not clawed back then we can roll it on until after the end of the war. We expect to lose very little money," he said.

Last night ITV's News at Nine ran without a single commercial break, the first time it has done so since the attacks on America on September 11 eighteen months ago.

Tonight's edition of the News at Nine will also be ad free, with the expected loss of around 3 1/2 minutes of ad time being taken up by Midsomer Murders which follows straight after.

Mr Desmond said ITV had clearly communicated with advertisers in the run up to the start of the war in order to minimise disruption.

ITV has committed around £5.5m to covering the cost of the war that is widely expected to come to an end in April.