More Changes Ahead for ITV News

The problem with virtual studios is that they invariably look crap. The caps look so 'european'...if it was used for a german station national news I would not be surprised. I assume they've spent their million quid on more than a few buckets of green paint, a new desk and a computer to run the CSO. Of course the biggest problems with the ITVNC are not the studio:

A decidedly downmarket news agenda
"30 minute bulletins" about 36 times a day, no live news overnight (rather than rolling news)
Simulcasting ITV1 news, making them a no go area for breaking news
Therefore starting their on the hour news late after 8 minute ad breaks, which just loses viewers and credibility.
Very rarely dropping ad breaks, even at times of major moving news stories
Being used as an occassional spare sports channel by ITV.
Single-headed bulletins, presented by monkeys.

If any of these improve it will be a step in the right direction, but this is ITV, so I'm not holding my breath.

I don't think it's true that the NC has a downmarket agenda at all. I'd say that the NC was certainly upmarket of the ITV1 bulletins.

The 30 minute bulletin thing was true 18 months ago when it was the ITN News Channel, but since then the format has shifted substantially.

You're right that the simulcasts make things messy on the NC, though.

I also agree about the overnights, and I hope they address that.

I also think the channel has some very good presenters, but I don't think the current format allows them to shine.

Your comments seem to be anti-ITV for the sake of it, rather than looking at any merits the channel may have.

The agenda is not downmarket at all, they start the hour with the top stories and each hour is different with a mix of regional, unusual and normal stories.
I would say that there are in fact hour long bulletins, with half hours before/after ITV News Simulcasts. No live overnight news is a downpoint, but that doesn't affect me as a viewer, and the service overnight is satisfactory.
Simulcasting ITV1 News is no problem, and Breaking News is not a problem on ITV1 bulletins either.
All advert breaks are 3 minutes, not that long. The on the hour headlines starting early/late is no big deal really.
Blimey, if there is a big story the News Channel will always drop its ad breaks, and in the case of live speeches/news conferences etc... no idea where that came from.
Not a spare sports channel at all, it just showed the RWC matches a couple of times afterwards.
Single headed bulletins are to change, and the presenters are not monkeys at all, I hope you are sued for slander. They are talented presenters who are good and better than BBC News presenters.

You have too much negative energy running through your veins. Stop, think and listen to yourself! Just because the BBC have had a very bad week - kilroy, dyke, gilligan etc you feel the need to take out all your pent up anger out on the ITV News Channel!

Most of the points that you raised might have been valid when it was the ITN News Channel, but things have improved and will keep on getting better.

Throughout 2003 ITV News Channel received some praise on this forum for reporting on certain stories, amount of breaking news first and how much it has improved (ok it couldnt get any worse) but its not as bad as some people may lead you to think!

Well it's a shame the audience figures don't reflect this apparent improvement over the last 18 months. The general population don't seem to agree with your viewpoints.

As for the point about repeating RWC matches, you can add live UEFA cup matches to this list.

During ITV1 simulcasts, ITV NC definitely do not adequately cover breaking news, and have missed many, many crucial live OBs, such as news conferences or first pictures, whilst talking about the latest antics in the jordan jungle.

Good to hear they're moving towards double-anchoring...don't get me wrong I hope ITV NC get their collective arses in gear and start providing a third serious UK news network, but at the moment they fall way short of that, and given ITV's management over the past decade, forgive me if I don't have as much confidence as you for improvements.

They have changed the music in that promo haven't they? I wonder why... or have we been over this?

On a slightly negative note, I can't beleive that set cost a million squid, there must be something really good about it.. maybe the realism of the wall? Its a nice studio, but for £1million I'd at least expect to see a real news wall, not green CSO stuff - actually, being a blue-ish studio, wouldn't it haven been better to use blue screen instead? Or is that too foolish (because the bottom part of the desk and Marks tie might go fuzzy) or not possible?

I wonder if anytime they'll use a live video of the newroom on the wall, suppose that could be another possibility?

I agree with some of the points you make, there is certainly room for improvement for ITV News, and hopefully this relaunch will see significant moves in the right direction. More recently, the ITVNC have actually done their own thing and not actually simulcast some bulletins with ITV1 during press conferences / breaking news etc.

I'm not sure about the downmarket agenda, only the other day, Sky News and News 24 were running the Ben Affleck & J Lo break up story, and there seems to be an increase in celebrity, showbiz and consumer stories across all networks. However, we live in a culture of fascination with celebrity, and the news is starting to reflect that.

Actually, I was thinking the same thing myself! I'm guessing that green is just a generally more fool-proof colour for a studio that will be used by lots of different people - imagine if a guest turned up with a bright blue tie that went see-through!

A more obvious reason would be that blue screen + blue studio = the whole lot goes invisible.

Mary Nightingale will have to scrap her entire green wardrobe.

I've noticed that Meridian Tonight is now being billed as Meridian News. If the Meridian Tonight name is being dropped, why? Are other regions dropping the name of their main bulletin too? Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I could find no mention of it anywhere.

There are no plans AFAIK to drop the "Meridian Tonight" name.