I have no idea who this Simon Proctor bloke in that quoted Tweet upthread is (i.e. whether he's a credible source / industry insider, or a lone fantasist).
Giving him the benefit of the doubt however, it's nevertheless
possible
that he's either been fed misleading/unclear/duff information and/or has misunderstood whatever he's been told.
It may be, for example, that announcements by Gillian & Julian are returning (but with the station name continuing to be ITV both visually and verbally), with Mr Proctor mistakenly under the impression that this means a return of UTV-branded idents.
Conversely, maybe "the UTV" really is coming back.
We'll just have to wait and see what happens, and not arrogantly claim to "know" stuff that we clearly don't.
If
any decision is ever made (or already has been) for UTV to not return as a station name, I cannot believe for a single nanosecond that ITV plc would be happy for the current temporary/interim disparity of having "UTV"-orientated programme names on a channel permanently called ITV to continue indefinitely.
Given that UTV Live is already only a minor title sequence re-edit away from full renaming to e.g. "ITV News Northern Ireland" (or what-flippin'-ever), it would be simple enough to implement such a change if/when any such decision is made.
I do wonder what potential new name UTV Life could have, if this were the way that things ultimately go. My suggestion would be Night Life, with a logo that somehow emphasises the first two letters (N.I. - geddit?!).
Last edited by Cold Open on 7 October 2020 9:04pm