ITV News

Today so far is the usual shift patterns, but with different people than usual.

07.00 Nick Clark or Lloyd Bracey
08.00 Live with Angela Rippon and Nick Clark
09.00 Live with Angela Rippon and Lynda Bryans
10.00 Live with Angela Rippon and Nick Clark
11.00 Nick Clark
12.00 Lynda Bryans
14.15 Nick Clark and Phil Gayle
15.00 Lynda Bryans and Phil Gayle
16.00 TBA
18.00 Phil Gayle
18.45 ITV Weekend News with Bill Neely
18.55 Jonathan Dimbleby (Repeat)
19.40 TBA
??.?? Phil Gayle
??.?? TBA
22.30 ITV Weekend News with Bill Neely
22.45 TBA

It looks like Lloyd Bracey did the Morning News again as there's some newswall presentations with him today

I expect the 'TBA' shift might be Owen Thomas

Between 7am and 8am it was Lloyd Bracey and at 4pm it's Owen Thomas and Linda Byrans.

16.00 Owen Thomas and Lynda Bryans
16.30 Owen Thomas
17.00 Phil Gayle
18.45 ITV Weekend News with Bill Neely
19.00 Jonathan Dimbleby
19.40 Owen Thomas
20.00 Bill Neely
21.00 Phil Gayle
22.00 Owen Thomas
22.30 ITV Weekend News with Bill Neely
22.45 Owen Thomas

I don't know how many weeks in we are at this point.. but, will there ever be a regular pattern? I think all this "news presenter for one hour, effs off, comes back 3 hours later, does 2 hours, goes for a sleep, one hour standing by the newsall" stuff is a big load of ****.

Every time I turn on its someone different. It doesn't make it better because of the variety - I like to tune in at certain times of the day, and have the same people telling me the news in the same style as they did yesterday. One day its the smirking Owen Thomas who looks like the FA Cup, next its the Aeroplane Blonde Sasha Merriment/Herrihead/Lord Shoutalot, and then next its some Irish women, or maybe its Phil.. err...errr... umm.. Gayle. It's depressing as I am in favour of a strong ITV News Channel, and I want it to be my first choice - as I like the ITV Brand, the presentations are good, and the delivery and wordage is usually excellent. It's just this mish-mash that is annoying the crap out of me.

I do like ITV, but I can't take the channel seriously at all for several reasons.

1. A complete disaster schedule with one hour on, one hour off - we'll be posting different schedules here forever. Do you see them doing this on the Sky News or BBC News 24 threads?

2. The CSO - it looks so damn crap. Why they can have a moving background for the short weekend news bulletins and not for the 5.30-6.30pm slot when the CSO is used is beyond me. It looks so stale. Most people come back from work at this time and see one camera-man and his dog, motionless, boring, and completely arse.

3. The London studio is a nice touch, but it really should be used for speciality programming. I just find it incredible where one minute they are in a dashing theatre of news with flying arrows, squares etc - and the next minute they're presenting in front of a widescreen TV - the viewer must wonder what the hell its all about.

4. Why oh why does every 05.30, 12.30, 18:30, and 22:30 programme have to be simulcast. It makes a mockery of the PMQ's when they cut out for adverts and then the lunchtime news. Even more so when they have ad breaks during the 9/11 investigation things they were broadcasting from America.

5. A news channel MUST be live after midnight. It should be a priority that this is the first thing they sort out. Please ITV, do yourselves a favour next time and DO NOT waste your money buying tacky American sports like NFL, and concentrate on what you already have (or haven't got) - please broadcast LIVE throughout the night.

6. Chemistry - get the dual anchors going on the piss together one night - let them get to know each other. Steve and Felicity are a good pairing, but some others are beyond belief - absolutely awful - don't joke about something unless you can say it properly either - it's very bad to have a news presenter sounding as though they can't speak clearly in colloquial conversation. ALSO, please please get some continuity and TELL the viewers who will be pesenting the news next. One minute its Nick Clark and he doesn't even have the decency to say who is next! Then we find out its Lelya Dalbelge in the Blue Broom Cupboard with the camera that never moves.

7. My final gripe remains one of the "presentation" black-spots of the channel. That huge swiping "Breaking News for Britain" - but first, we're just going to catch up on the main news headlines of the day with the Lunchtime News, with Nick Owen. Firstly, it's a lie, and secondly, it looks so damn crap. By the time its flown in they could have had the adverts already - it is unneccessary - and detracts from the fact that it's a rolling news channel, as it seems to distinguish each part like a proper "End of Part One". Just a short 2 second ITV News ident with no music would suffice, a la Sky.

These are my gripes. I'd love to think that by the end of the year I could switch on and all of them would be answered, but I fear they won't be!

A lot of those points only apply at the weekend, weekdays are much more organised. I agree there is a few little niggles that could be sorted out and may be tweaked, its only 3 months since the relaunch so its probably still work in practice. If you compare today's ITV NC with this time last year it is unrecognisable and even if you compare with the start of February there's many more new features that have been introduced since

And I expect the news will be live overnight at some stage, but it takes time. So far this year they relaunched, double headed mornings, then double headed afternoons, then introduced the Angela Rippon show and double headed weekends. Then after trying out various presenter patterns decided on a final line-up (remember Leyla Daybelge used to do evenings at first). Just recently they've introduced the extra double headed evening programme. I'm sure live overnights is at the bottom of this list (A list that probably includes making 7pm double headed as a higher priority). Remember the ITV News Channel is still fairly new and it can't all happen straight away.


Also, remember how much CSO time there was back in Feb - 11.45-12.30pm, 4-6.30pm, 9.30-10.30pm. Now its only an hour a day so thats another rolling improvement

I agree with many of the points you make - especially re. the overnight service being a priority.

You can see the rationale behind it - the audience is miniscule so why spend the money? - but the channel's credibility flies out the window because of the overnight repeats.

Also, the ad break at the end of PMQs is another pet hate of mine. No-one who wants to watch PMQs will watch it on the ITV News Channel. If they're not going to show the whole thing, they might as well not bother at all and offer an alternative to Sky News and News 24's coverage of PMQs.

They went to a break in the middle of that Queen's Lancashire Regiment press conference on Friday. Why?????? Anyone who is interested in the subject would have flicked straight to Sky News. Mad.

Andrew's right though - a hell of a lot of progress has been made recently. Even since the February relaunch there have been lots of tweaks and incremental improvements. I hope the current pace of change continues.

I agree with that actually. At first I liked the idea of the London studio becoming the second set, but then the contrast between it and the main studio is so great, that the change is quite noticeable - more so than the CSO.

And the weekday schedules - as said - are pretty much settled now. I can envisage the point where the channel becomes double-headed up until 9.30 at least as well.

They have many presenters at their disposal, they have many reporters that could be there around the clock, they have a spare studio that could house a second set similar size but without the big impact, that would still look recognisable to the audience, and they could sort out their adverts, if they wanted to, but most would involve more money, and itv won't do that, which is a shame, it's all about getting it on the cheap for them.

The presenters could be organised, mornings are ok at the mo, afternoons have many presenters mixed and matched, and i don't like the evenings as there it's either someone on their own most of the time or someone else in the CSO/London Tonight Set. They should separate the presenters as other channels do so that people tune in for those people, something similar to:

Weekdays:
0600 ITV NEWS BREAKFAST: Lucy Alexander & Andrew Harvey (main set)
1000 Live with Alastair Stewart (second set)
1230 Lunchtime News Simlecast (main set)
1300 Chris Rogers & Leyla Deybelge (main set - quick crossover)
1600 Felicity Barr & Steve Scott (second set)
1830 Evening News Simlecast (main set)
1900 Discussion Programme with Katie Derham (second set)
2000 Nick Clark & Joyce Ohajah (main set-2100 swap to second set)
2230 Late News Simlecast (main set)
2300 Owen Thomas & Rachel McTavish (second set)
0200 Judy Aslett (main set)
0230 Sport Report
0300 Judy Aslett (main set)
0330 An American News Programme
0400 Judy Aslett (main set)
0430 Tonight with Trevor McDonald (various editions)
0500 Short Summary with Judy Aslett (main set)
0505 2230 News Repeat (removing regional slot in)
0530 Morning News Simlecast with Judy Aslett (main set)

Weekends:
0600 ITV NEWS BREAKFAST: Bill Neeley & Shiulie Ghosh (main set)
1000 Live with Angela Rippon (main set)
1300 Adrian Britton & Andrea Catherwood (main set)
1600 Phil Gayle & Sasha Herriman (main set)
1900 Jonathan Wills & Lauren Taylor (main set)
2300 Owen Thomas & Rachel McTavish (second set)
0200 Lloyd Bracey (main set)
0230 Sport Report
0300 Lloyd Bracey (main set)
0330 An American News Programme
0400 Lloyd Bracey (main set)
0430 Tonight with Trevor McDonald (various editions)
0500 Short Summary with Lloyd Bracey (main set)
0505 2230 News Repeat (removing regional slot in)
0530 Morning News Simlecast with Lloyd Bracey (main set)

And stick to this, bar when various presenters are on holiday when they should get newscasters from the local newsrooms in for a week or two to fill in, rather than having another mess, and they should be live as pointed out through the night, but not for a whole hour, so that's separated by programmes, except for breaking news as last weeks glasgow. They should also stick with coverage of a press conference or PMQ's and say that the news is over on ITV1 now, every one that has access to the ITV NC has ITV1, so why they don't do something different is strange to me.

And what's the idea that just because it's night doesn't mean that reporters should go to bed, they should try and make the night more than just being there, try and include viewers who work odd shifts and have odd sleeping patterns so that they aren't left out.

A simple second set could be built, if not using a rear projection screen or a simpler CSO curtain rather than the fancy ones with the fancy cameras, even GMTV's simple one for the weather still holds the shadow of the person so why the theatre of news doesn't I don't know.
They could do it with a replica desk and platform maybe three screens if not just the old one from the old set in the centre behind them to enable them to do some kind of standing shot, and have smaller ones to the left and right of the desk for talking to reporters.

As pointed out it seems very inferior to go to a one shot CSO when people are getting in from work.

The adverts are a puzzle to me, not the actual idea of adverts, but the News Channel's way of doing them compared to how SKY do them.
At the moment I presume that the ITVNC have something going where they have to air the adverts at a certain point, where as SKY can air them at any time as long as they get the adverts in, whih may mean double slots the following hour if they are with breaking news the previous hour.
Watching the Channel 4 Schools programme going behind the scenes of programmes, they said on there that RI:SE's adverts were never scheduled and were just aired when they founf them appropriate, SO how does this system work from businesses and advertisers and why don't ITV adopt this for the news channel.
Perhaps they should have the channel played out from the London Studios as ITV1 & 2 (as isn't it currently played out from ITN?), that way ITV control the breaks, and ITN tell them when they want them instead of them being scheduled.

The weather on the news channel should be moved to ITN, and have them do it live in the theatre (if possible) and live and more detailed than the ITV1 summeries, that's the point of the channel.

What also gets me about ITV is their interactivity. They have an ITVi service which doesn't do much at all. It's supposedly part of the company, and people work on it every day, yet not much comed out of it. They have a 24:7 football service, which is good for what it is, and a This Morning service, and that's it.
Compare that to BBC News 24 and Sky News who each have a multi screen interactive function.

ITVi could even set up a simple Digital Teletext service for News, weather, sport, entertainment and travel, just simple things that would bring more viewers information from them, giving them credibility.

They also have the website, itv.com/news that could be a hell of a lot better, but then so could the website as a whole. It's as though they can't really be bothered anymore. They cover a very limited amount of stories and it isn't that organised and easy to navigate.

They bring it all upon theirselves, there are easy solutions, it's just them pulling their finger out and getting them done that seems to be the problem.

Well it's good to have Andrew and Lucy back this morning - they are very good.

Was quite shocked to see Owen Thomas doing the morning news this morning, especially when he was during the evening yesterday

Last night he was saying "I'll be with you right through the night" so I wondered if he was doing a double shift.

I think that to solve ITV News's problems, they should come up with a schedule like this:

0000 Joyce Ohajah (Mon: Lauren Taylor till 1, Dimbelby till 2)
0200 Rachel McTavish
0230 Sport Report (Rpt)
0300 Rachel McTavish
0330 World Report (Rpt)
0400 Rachel McTavish
0430 News Network (Rpt)
0500 Rachel McTavish
0530 ITV Morning News - Rachel McTavish
0600 Early Breakfast - Rachel McTavish
0630 Sport Report - Alex Thomas
0700 Breakfast - Andrew Harvey and Lucy Alexander
1000 Live with Alastair Stewart (and Lucy Alexander)
1200 Andrew Harvey
1230 ITV News - Nicholas Owen
1300 Nick/Katie and Chris/Leyla
1400 Chris Rogers and Leyla Daybelge
1500 Mark/Mary and Chris/Leyla
1600 Afternoon Show - Felicity Barr and Steve Scott
1730 Steve Scott
1830 ITV News - Mark Austin and Mary Nightingale
1900 Chris Rogers and Leyla Daybelge
2100 Sport Report - Steve Scott and Felicity Barr
2130 News Network - Steve Scott
2200 World Report - Steve Scott
2230 ITV News - Trevor McDonald
2300 Joyce Ohajah

Saturday:
0000 Joyce Ohajah
0200 Lloyd Bracey
0230 Sport Report
0300 Lloyd Bracey
0330 Sport Report
0400 Lloyd Bracey
0430 World Report
0500 Lloyd Bracey
0530 ITV Morning News - Sasha Herriman
0600 Sasha Herriman
0630 Sport Report - Joanna Gaiserwoska
0700 Lloyd Bracey and Sasha Herriman
0800 Live with Angela Rippon (and Sasha Herriman)
1100 Owen Thomas and Heather McCarthy
1400 Sport Report - Jonathan Wills (and Nick Clark)
1500 Live with Andrea Catherwood
1630 Sport Report - Jonathan Wills
1715 ITV News - Andrea Catherwood
1730 Sport Report - Jonathan Wills and Angus Scott/Mark Boulton
1800 Owen Thomas and Heather McCarthy
1900 John Nicolson and Lauren Taylor
2000 John Nicolson and Andrea Catherwood
2100 John Nicolson and Lauren Taylor
2200 World Report - John Nicolson
2230 ITV News - Andrea Catherwood
2245 News Network - John Nicolson
2315 Lauren Taylor

Sunday:
0000 Lauren Taylor
0115 Lloyd Bracey
0230 Sport Report
0300 Lloyd Bracey
0330 Sport Report
0400 Lloyd Bracey
0430 World Report
0500 Lloyd Bracey
0530 ITV Morning News - Sasha Herriman
0600 Sasha Herriman
0630 Sport Report - Joanna Gaiserwoska
0700 Lloyd Bracey and Sasha Herriman
0800 Live with Angela Rippon (and Sasha Herriman)
1100 Owen Thomas and Heather McCarthy
1400 Nick Clark and Jonathan Wills
1500 Live with Andrea Catherwood
1630 Owen Thomas and Heather McCarthy
1730 Sport Report - Jonathan Wills and Angus Scott/Mark Boulton
1800 Jonathan Dimbelby Repeat
1945 ITV News - Andrea Catherwood
1900 John Nicolson and Lauren Taylor
2000 John Nicolson and Andrea Catherwood
2100 John Nicolson and Lauren Taylor
2200 World Report - John Nicolson
2230 ITV News - Andrea Catherwood
2245 News Network - John Nicolson
2315 Lauren Taylor