* Says John McGuckian's ties with TVC comprised independence
* Appoints Helen Kirkpatrick interim chairman
* Shares jump 11 percent
Feb 23 (Reuters) - Northern Irish broadcaster UTV Media (Frankfurt: 725292 - news) said its board voted to remove John McGuckian as chairman of the company, due to his close association with its largest shareholder TVC Holdings (Berlin: T1VC.BE - news) , an Ireland (Xetra: A0Q8L3 - news) -based investment firm.
Shares of the company shot up about 11 percent to 133 pence by 1305 GMT on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: LSE.L - news) .
The company said a majority of its board members considered that McGuckian's close association with TVC compromised his independence to a great extent leading to the vote.
Following the ouster, McGuckian, Shane Reihill and Kevin Lagan resigned from the board, UTV Media (Irish: MDY.IR - news) said in a statement.
Reihill is the executive chairman of TVC Holdings and McGuckian is a non-executive director on its board.
TVC Holdings has an 18 percent stake in UTV Media, which owns TalkSport, according to Thomson Reuters (Toronto: TRI.TO - news) data.
UTV Media said Helen Kirkpatrick, a non-executive director, had agreed to become interim chairman. (Reporting by Jochelle Mendonca in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
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