I like the fact that ITV seem to be getting the voiceovers (usually the presenter or star of a programme) to actually do a separate promo that says "UTV" at the end. It was always odd we got the talent doing the voiceover and the end was chopped off to have a local CA say the time and day of the programme and "on UTV". It flows nicely now. I wonder if, as you say, it is a new permanent thing. It was a bit boring hearing John on every trailer. Was he the only person they had to do it?
We are now a year into the new ITV look for UTV, it feels to me that by January 2018 UTV's local involvement in any announcements will be gone. ITV detest local involvement and UTV, just like Channel TV will be sterilised of any local involvement, except for the basic news presentation.
Their move out of Havelock House next year will be the final nail, UTV brought all this on by themselves with their stupid UTV Ireland channel fiasco. Only STV remains as a truly independent franchise.
I'm sure they could have dropped a promo and have the network announcer record something at least? No? Oh.
I looked in at key points on Sunday and Monday and there was absolutely nothing. Centralised playout can have its limitations. We certainly appreciate our live continuity announcers/directors on BBC One NI and BBC Two NI more on occasions like this, where they can react very quickly to such events.
Limitations, but a good Media Planning team would have pushed that in. Or even if it's not via continuity, it could be warning IPPs..oh. UTV doesn't have much of an OSP, apart from promos. *sigh*
Yeah - and I wouldn't be surprised if the UTV name vanishes next time ITV changes their idents. Could be a few years away, but they have been in use for a few years already.
MR
mr_vivian
Looks very likely John's contract has ended for the utv adverts. I heard a generic female voiceover again tonight.
We are now a year into the new ITV look for UTV, it feels to me that by January 2018 UTV's local involvement in any announcements will be gone. ITV detest local involvement and UTV, just like Channel TV will be sterilised of any local involvement, except for the basic news presentation.
Their move out of Havelock House next year will be the final nail, UTV brought all this on by themselves with their stupid UTV Ireland channel fiasco. Only STV remains as a truly independent franchise.
I can just imagine the reaction in London, South East, South etc to Julian's accent. "Now on the ITV..." no, would never work.
It's not so much the accent per se, as ITV plc now do have some NI-accented announcers on the team. It's more the colloquial habits with wording (such as the superfluous use of the definite article in front of the station name) that would be absolute no-nos for ITV plc.
When there was that BBC/UTV simulcast to mark digital switchover, Julian of course pronounced the word "simulcast" such that the first syllable rhymed with "sigh" rather than with "him". Again, that sort of thing would go down like a lead balloon at ITV towers.
One thing I've noticed on the local announcements on ITV Wales is that the English announcers often say "Cymru Wales" in a Welsh accent.
Do they? Really?
Surely such announcements are either done by someone with a genuine Welsh accent (or a Welsh person who happens to have little/no discernible accent), or at least by someone who attempts to pronounce "Cymru" correctly/authentically (even if they are an English person). The latter is
not
inherently the same thing as "putting on" a fake Welsh accent.