As the recession bites, consumers in the West Midlands would rather cut back on costly evenings out than reduce their spend on television, according to a new report published by Deloitte/YouGov on behalf of the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.

The 'Television's Got Talent' report, found that 44 per cent of consumers in the region would rather give up eating out than reduce the amount they spend on television, including subscriptions and viewing apparatus.

A further 41 per cent and 38 per cent respectively would cut back on the cash they spend going to the pub and the cinema before restricting their television spend.

A significant 49 per cent of people surveyed in the West Midlands have a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) such as Sky+, Virgin V+, BT Vision, Vbox or Fetch TV but despite this 41 per cent spend one to two hours watching live scheduled television.

The popularity of the licence fee seems to be sliding, with 60 per cent of those polled in the region saying they would prefer to see adverts across all channels than continue to pay the licence fee.

But whilst more advertising is preferable to paying the licence fee, 63 per cent of viewers questioned in the region said there was already too much advertising on television.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of those polled in the West Midlands said that during the past 12 months they had started watching more than one hour more of television per day than previously.

Chris Robertson, head of Deloitte's technology, media & telecommunications practice in the Midlands, said: "Consumers are tightening their belts and it is good news for the television industry that television is the entertainment of choice for the British family.

"Television has proved itself to be an essential item that consumers are not prepared to go without even when times are tight.

"In fact, the recession seems to be encouraging people to stay in and watch more TV as it is a cheaper alternative to going out to bars and restaurants, and even the cinema."