I think it makes sense for the rebrand, as BBC1 isn't called just BBC is it. It just seems to be going with a trend of branding channels with numbers in of late ie. BBC Choice to become BBC3, Knowledge becomes BBC 4 etc. I think the current itv logo will remain, perhaps with the addition of a '1' in ITV 2 style. I really hope it doesn't mean a DOG onto mainstream ITV, but this must be an opportunity for lots of new idents !!!
AL
alekf
I saw on TV Insite's Television Europe site that ONdigital/ITV Digital is suffering from many problems…
After posting of financial losses in excess of $100m, Granada is now believed to be under shareholder pressure to wrap up the UK digital terrestrial service ONdigital. The revelations in the UK press may have been anticipated by Granada chairman Charles Allen, who earlier this week wrote a subsequently-leaked appeal to the British prime minister.That ONdigital lags behind Murdoch's BSkyB satellite-delivered service is indisputable: ONdigital has managed only a million subs since 1998, as compared to Sky's 5 million. Given Granada's fiscal losses, shareholders' patience may be wearing thin, as ONdigital is not expect to break even for another two years.So far, Granada and ONdigital partner Carlton have ploughed $1.12bn into the service, and another $435m had been earmarked for future investment. ONdigital is scheduled for re-branding as ITV digital in coming weeks: however this new pressure may mean that the re-branding is greatly scaled down or even shelved.Meantime, rival companies, including Telewest and Sky, have been applying their own pressure - they have been protesting against plans to allow ITV to advertise ONdigital in free-to-air time.If ONdigital was to close, it could seriously delay the British government's plans for an analogue switchoff date somewhere between 2006 and 2010.
AE
Ashley Elford
alekf posted:
I saw on TV Insite's Television Europe site that ONdigital/ITV Digital is suffering from many problems…....
Sounds to me they are lazy jornalists, this story has been about for over a week. As I've already said in this thread:
Quote:
You've mis-understood the news story, only 4 out of Granada's 20 main shareholders say they wouldn't want it to be in ITV Digital. Firstly, considering the report measured the top 20, not the top 10 or top 5 share holders, it is reasonable to assume that only the smaller shareholders are bothered by this change. Secondly, we don't know what the question asked was. It might have been, 'Do you think it is good for ONdigital to become ITV Digital ?' or it might have been, 'Do you think a rebrand is un-needed ?' etc....
Very interesting news and I haven't yet read any articles on it but I'm not sure how it'll work.
Meridian is always called Meridian down here ('This is Meridian, part of the ITV1 network' erm..maybe not)
As shown by the HTV idents, regional identity isn't going anywhere in the near future so I can't really think of anywhere where it'll be mentioned or branded. Maybe new generic breakbumpers with a 1 wizzing past?!
I expect the ITV logo will remain with the addition of a '1', like ITV2. Maybe ITV1 will become the biggest part of the ident, with a small tag line underneath saying 'Meridian' or 'Yorkshire'. Or, perhaps ITV will do a series of idents with '1's' like the BBC's '2's'.
I expect that ITV had to take this approach anyway with ONdigital about to become ITV digital, that way people will be able to tell the difference between the ITV platform and the ITV1 channel.
