Central News South Closure

The time has come for Central News South to put an end to what they've done best for 17 years. Sunday 3rd December will see the last ever Central News South bulletin. Already Gloucestershire analogue viewers are with ITV West and the rest of the changes including Herefordshire moving to Birmingham and the creation of 'Thames Valley Tonight' will be on Monday 4th December. Certainly will be sad to see it go.

ITV Central Changes
ITV West Changes

Thanks for that, it certainly will be a shame.

I wonder if for the last CNS @ 6, they will invite Ann Dawson and Eddie the Eagle on? It would be nice if they could do a special half-hour programme commemorating the past 17 years of CNS maybe?

Situation tonight here in Gloucester is Central South continuing on the previous channel 25 from Ridge Hill with ITV West on the new channel 30 service, which runs rather counter to what we've been told. There must have been a late change of plan.

Digital's unchanged with Central South on freeview and Sky 103, with Telewest still carrying ITV West on 103 and Central South on 114.

I'll update as soon as I see any change.

Somehow I can't see a mass retune to channel 30 - even if people knew how to do it I doubt whether many will bother, except wonder where Wesley and that woman went to

Many many years ago in VHF days my uncle in Cheshire was moaning that the BBC local news was all about Yorkshire - it was a tough fight to get him to realise that there was now a North-West service on channel 12 with the old channel 2 North service being Yorkshire only. This was almost a decade after the change.

If analogue here does switch to Central West in advance of the closure of Central South will we end up with a short term situation where the Gloucester bureau reports into three different regions or sub-regions?

Ah well, at least soon no-one's going to be telling me Milton Keynes is local to me.....

I've retuned to ITV West on Ch 30. As I understand it, from reading Central's site, after Central South closes on 1 December, Central West will broadcast on ch 25, but will not view Gloucestershire as being in their editorial patch.
So those in North Gloucestershire who receive from Ridge Hill would do far better to retune to Ch 30 for ITV West - which I (and I am not technically minded) found easy to do. I see on the ITV West site that Telewest will be deleting channel 114 that currently carries Central South (leaving ITV West on 103), and that Sky will install ITV West on ch 103 after Xmas.
Generally I welcome ITV's actions, but am frustrated that they seem to imply that anyone using Ridge Hill for freeview will not be able to get ITV West in digital until the analogue service is closed down.
The other oddity is that in North Gloucestershire we get BBC West on satellite and cable on 101, but the Beeb don't seem able to do what ITV have just achieved, and give us BBC West through our aerials. Bizarre..

I'm sure you had no problems retuning, but I'm equally sure many will have had their TVs tuned by an installer and have little idea of how to retune now. The key word is many, not all.

As for the BBC not following suit, they don't seem to see it as being financially worthwhile, which isn't that bizarre a reason. Bear in mind ITV's changes are to benefit advertisers in North Gloucestershire as much as the viewers.

Many of us have been lobbying the BBC for quite some time to rectify the regional anomaly here but there is always a reason why not - ultimately they don't see it as being important enough.

Well, maybe the Beeb will correct the anomaly, when we get digital switchover......as it appears that that will be when ITV West is carried on digital from Ridge Hill.

I'm quite sad about this. I used to live in the area and distinctly remember the first ever episode when Central News South launched. It was, I might add, complete and utter rubbish - full of technical cock-ups and wooden presentation - but another piece of my childhood disappears. I feel so old.

Well, we lose news from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Herefordshire and gain Bristol & Somerset.

I'm an outsider who moved into Gloucester a few years back but I feel it's a gain providing the Gloucester 'bureau' gets a fair crack of the whip, although I suspect they won't get so much airtime on ITV West. Let's hope that's not the case. So far West show little change, but maybe that'll change after December 4th.

Last night's main Central News South featured Hannah Shelswell doing a piece between the weather and ITN handover telling Gloucestershire viewers to "tune to channel 30 and store on button 3" for ITV West and offering contact numbers and a website to explain the changes.

There was nothing on tonight's programme.

I think Wesley will be sadly missed locally, after all ITV West have been rather short of personalities in recent years.

What I won't miss is Christopher Peacock's daily audition for any future series of "Drop The Dead Donkey" (Damian Day lives), Tim Russon's rather simplistic and eccentricly-intoned sports reports (think Murray Walker without the volume or humour), reports on distant Milton Keynes and endless sick children/human interest stories.

Amidst all that they did give Gloucestershire a very fair crack of the whip in the news sections and Wesley is a superb presenter.

Overall it was a far better programme than I expected when I moved over here and was a refreshing change to showbiz and crime-obsessed London Tonight, although it was a touch depressing to see Peacock had preceded me here

Mind you, it's the BBC local shows that matter to me these days, with the ITV equivalents rather a lightweight supplement. Oh for the days of Thames News....

Rob
Gloucester

That expression has made me realise... come 04-Dec-2006, will be the first time since 31-Dec-1992 that an ITV regional news programme with the word "Thames" in its name exists!

Hmm... the sports bit on Central News West often mentions the Derby County football team, so must surely also cover at least a little bit of Derbyshire? The above is obviously an over-simplification.

I'm sure a read somewhere on TVF that towards the very NW of Derbyshire, viewers get the Manchester-based regional newses. Years ago, I'd always assumed that it was a simple case of northern derbyshire gets Leeds, and southern Derbyshire gets Nottingham. I'm surprised at just how fragmented Derbyshire actually is.

Of the two "main" Derbyshire services (Leeds and Nottingham), which of those two does the majority portion of the county get?

Can't let you say that about Christopher Peacock. He's a regional ITV News legend having gone from presenting/reporting news from Southern/TVS/London Tonight and Central South. Besides, make his first name shorter and you have a funnier insight into his name!

If Peacock's a legend in ITV Local News then it's lost all hope.

Have you watched the guy? He gives melodrama a whole new meaning. Longevity means he fits the specific production/editorial values, not that what he does is pleasant viewing.

But then I'm after news and features, not pantomime.....