ITV wins World Cup ratings battle with BBC in tournament’s first week

England v Croatia attracted year’s highest UK TV figuresBBC opted for more first-pick games in knockout stagesITV is winning the UK television ratings battle after the first week of the World Cup. Viewing figures from Barb (the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) show the channel had four of the five highest TV audiences, topped by England’s 4-2 win over Croatia on Wednesday.England’s victory in Dallas attracted a peak audience of 15.4 million on ITV and an average of more than 10 million, th