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ITV1 ident package 2004/06

Used from late 2004-early 2006 (January 2021)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BU
buster


Usually GMTV ended up broadcasting for about an hour or so, before handing over to ITV Sport for the football. However, there was one occasion during that tournament when England got to the Quarter Finals and were due to play Brazil. The BBC had the first rights to show this, however ITV made a late call and also decided to show the match due to its importance. On the day of the match, GMTV didn’t even broadcast at all, and ITV Sport started its coverage at 6:00am. I’m guessing the BBC’s coverage also began at this time.


Actually it didn't, I think BBC One began at 0630 after half an hour of Breakfast. GMTV was originally scheduled as a short broadcast but as they often did at this point, ITV decided to try and gain an advantage by starting earlier, and it was pulled entirely. I think someone on here used the GMTV studio webcam of the period to see that they were all watching the match on one of their big screens, possibly the weather one.

I was doing an A Level English exam that morning so missed the whole thing, and had to go on the cheers/boos heard from elsewhere in the building as to whether England won or not. I emerged after 3 hours thinking we had won...
CR
Critique

Actually it didn't, I think BBC One began at 0630 after half an hour of Breakfast. GMTV was originally scheduled as a short broadcast but as they often did at this point, ITV decided to try and gain an advantage by starting earlier, and it was pulled entirely. I think someone on here used the GMTV studio webcam of the period to see that they were all watching the match on one of their big screens, possibly the weather one.


Funnily enough, there's an image on MHP Private Parts of just this (file 3535)!
IT
itvblocks
Back to topic, how could we forget the "ITV50" idents?

BR
Brekkie
Back to topic, how could we forget the "ITV50" idents?

Quite easily it seems.
VM
VMPhil
Back to topic, how could we forget the "ITV50" idents?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iRIse2kQio

Such a terrible idea. They barely had enough programmes to fill four channels, let alone 50. I did enjoy watching the alternate camera angles for the news on ITV 37 though, and I think ITV 14 showed a good movie once.
SW
Steve Williams
Usually GMTV ended up broadcasting for about an hour or so, before handing over to ITV Sport for the football. However, there was one occasion during that tournament when England got to the Quarter Finals and were due to play Brazil. The BBC had the first rights to show this, however ITV made a late call and also decided to show the match due to its importance. On the day of the match, GMTV didn’t even broadcast at all, and ITV Sport started its coverage at 6:00am. I’m guessing the BBC’s coverage also began at this time.


They did indeed both show it, although it was always the plan both channels would show England and Ireland's matches in the knockout stages, they'd both shown the win against Denmark the previous Saturday. As you say, the start time of the match coverage was brought forward by both channels, getting earlier and earlier throughout the week.

That was the last time the BBC and ITV simulcast England matches during a major tournament, although I remember it being announced that had they reached the semi-finals in 2006 they would have simulcast. Clearly for ITV it wasn't worth the bother (Des: "Watch it with us, we'll throw in the teabreaks!") and they were better served trying to get the best matches exclusively.

I don't think GMTV made up the time completely after the World Cup, because it was interrupted pretty much every other day during the tournament. That was a great tournament for mad scheduling, with This Morning in the afternoon and SMTV on Bank Holiday Monday.
TI
TIGHazard
Back to topic, how could we forget the "ITV50" idents?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iRIse2kQio

Such a terrible idea. They barely had enough programmes to fill four channels, let alone 50. I did enjoy watching the alternate camera angles for the news on ITV 37 though, and I think ITV 14 showed a good movie once.


How could you forget that programme on ITV 23 where they did a live search for the TVS archive, and the immediately after had the reaction to the unfolding events on ITV 24
ET
ethanh05
Back to topic, how could we forget the "ITV50" idents?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iRIse2kQio

Such a terrible idea. They barely had enough programmes to fill four channels, let alone 50. I did enjoy watching the alternate camera angles for the news on ITV 37 though, and I think ITV 14 showed a good movie once.


How could you forget that programme on ITV 23 where they did a live search for the TVS archive, and the immediately after had the reaction to the unfolding events on ITV 24

And don't get me started about the continuity announcer on ITV 35.
VM
VMPhil
By the way, although the ident itself was nothing special, the promos they made for the 50th anniversary where they mixed old and new ITV faces were well done.

VM
VMPhil
Yes, I would suggest it was 2006, the early days of the next logo, that were the real dog days for ITV, Simon Shaps was a terrible controller and the summer of 2006 was a disaster, shows were being dropped mid-run left, right and centre, they were relying on ancient repeats to fill gaps (Rising Damp at teatime, Poirot episodes over ten years old at 9pm), the scheduling was all over the shop (with Emmerdale at 10pm for a month which was ludicrous*) and they were doing things like dropping CITV with seemingly no idea of what to put in its place and poaching the Saturday Kitchen team who flopped, and "forgetting" to review Paul O'Grady's contract. They even lost money on the World Cup, and indeed if anything sums up the channel at the time it's the fact they changed their main presenter halfway through the World Cup. A mess of a channel.


The idents that ITV1 got out of the big 2006 rebrand were by far the worst, most generic idents out of the lot, it really shows you how successful and confident the spin off channels were by that point, and how unfocused the main channel was. The absolute epitome of the 'slapping the logo over some stock footage' cliche.

I have always remembered this period in the mid-00s as ITV1's nadir, stuff like Celebrity Wrestling and Celebrity Love Island that seemed to be neither that popular or well reviewed. "It's Now or Never" getting dropped after one episode, and all the rip-offs of BBC formats like Dragon's Den, The Apprentice and Who Do You Think You Are.

Some good did come out of it of course, like TV Burp surprisingly becoming a Saturday night hit. And to be fair, ITV1 did get 8 shows in the top 10 TV ratings in 2006, but the perception of the channel certainly wasn't great.

But god those idents… by far the worst the channel has had since 2002. They didn't even last 12 months. Not that the following set were hugely memorable either, but at least it felt like there was some creativity to them, like the rest of the ITV channels.
Last edited by VMPhil on 29 January 2021 2:56pm
BR
Brekkie
Yes, the emotion idents make Oneness look like the balloon. I didn't mind the following set - it had an identifiable hook, theme and colour scheme which connected them all, something which IMO is what a good ident set should deliver. They had a good shelf life too.

What did STV and UTV do from 2004 as previously they'd taken a variation of the celebrity package. I know UTV had their own interpretation of the ITV look in 2006 (with completely different idents, but using the yellow stripe) and I think by then STV had switched to their S logo, but don't believe they took this look in any part IIRC.
Last edited by Brekkie on 29 January 2021 3:35pm
GH
Ghost
What did STV and UTV do from 2004 as previously they'd taken a variation of the celebrity package. I know UTV had their own interpretation of the ITV look in 2006 (with completely different idents, but using the yellow stripe) and I think by then STV had switched to their S logo, but don't believe they took this look in any part IIRC.

STV kept using the celebrity idents until 2006. UTV stopped using them in 2003, switching to a package consisting of landscapes.
Last edited by Ghost on 29 January 2021 6:23pm

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