ITV considering moving late news to 11pm (again...)

I agree to some extent with that point of view in that some of the 10-10.30 programming is weak. Surely therefore if the main evening bulletin was moved to 9 it would give them only an hour 8.00-9.00 (after the soaps) to fill with something decent to retain the audience.



I don't agree with your view there. Charles Allen has proved to be a shrewd businessman. He has successfully merged two companies at a time of increasing threat from competition, and after the financial disaster of ITV Digital.

ITV may have lost its former skill of spotting talent and commissioning hit programmes, but I would hope it's only a temporary situation and things will get better as the financial situation improves.

EDIT: Mr Allen, you may now forward gifts and/or copious amounts of cash to show your appreciation for the comments above

It would be a shame to move it to 11.00pm, as it would lose alot of its audience, and probably a bit of credability on ITV's behalf for moving it again. Either ITV should have stuck with the old News At Ten or stuck with the old Nightly News, both which were good News programmes, as is the 10:30.

There are many reasons that we could suggest on here, as I wouldn't mind seeing a broadcaster having a Nine O'Clock News, but that for ITV would be a commercial disaster, more suited to BBC1 or even Five. It also can have a poor lead in from time to time, such as Films split in half, TV's Naughtiest Blunders, Tarrant On TV, which have been shown ad nauseum, which really don't impact the ratings for the News At 10:30.

ITV are in a no win situation, they've put a hell of alot of effort into News At 10:30 and it is a very good programme, one problem no-one is watching it, ie less advertisers, less money, not good for ITV. Every slot they've tried it failed. When they brought back News At Ten in 2001 ITV were on a 'safe bet' thinking that the viewers can flock in for a News programme with Trevor McDonald which was just a poor repackaged Evening News, which started to lose alot of credability and became a laughing stock, even more when the BBC would kick ITV's ar*e.

But another question is what would ITV fill the slot with? More Drama? More Film? Probably not, probably more repeats of TVNB.

11pm really is too late they might as well axe the News if they do this. I would suggest something like this:

6.00 ITV Regional News (30")
6.30 ITV Evening News (60")
7.30 Primetime Schedule (150")
10.00 ITV News (15")
10.15 Programme/Film (varied)

Thus, we have two main bulletins: 12.30pm and 6.30pm, both last 1 hour, and then the late bulletin is short and concise.

I would love the news to be back at eleven. Also make the regional bulletins seperate again like the Nightly News a few years ago. Put the "ITV News Headlines" at 9 and 10

It never should have moved from 11pm!


Since 1999 I think the ITV schedule has worked best with the 11pm bulletin.

The flexible News at Ten structure could have worked if it had been more News at Ten and less News at When - while the 10.30pm compromise has been fine for the drama premieres, it's a disaster for films (with most having less than 30 min to air after the news) - and also for programming. There are more opportunities for hour-long programmes at 10pm than 30-min programmes.


I'd certainly have it move back to 11pm, perhaps with a short summary just before 9pm highlighting a flagship News at Nine on the ITV News Channel.

I like quite a few of the suggestions in this thread. I think a move back to the Nightly News at 23.00 would be a mistake. They already tried it once, and it was a flop. How many people (apart from those working odd hours) can be bothered to sit down and watch a full news bulletin at that time? 22.30 is about as late as a TV news bulletin can go, in my opinion.

I very much favour a move to 21.00. That way, ITV News would have programmes like Coronation Street and The Bill to follow on from. If they did a quick trailer at 20.55, after the preceding programme had finished, they could probably entice quite a few viewers to stay tuned. It would also give them the flexibility to show whatever they want after 21.30, without having to break the programme in half to make way for the news. 21.00 is the best solution all round - if only ITV could see that!

If the news did make a move to 21.00, I like the idea of re-instating the Early Evening News at 17.30. It would give non-Neighbours viewers a chance to watch some news if they wish to, and wouldn't interfere with the regional news at 18.00.

It might be the best solution for those of you who are news junkies, but for everyone else and the channel it is the worst possible solution.

You need to look away from just the news as a single item, news at nine won't get as high ratings as a 9pm drama, and a 9.30pm drama starting half an hour after BBC1's programme won't get as high ratings as a 9pm drama. A lot of people won't tune into a late news programme just on its own over the main evening's drama especially if they've seen the evening news

ITV's focus seems to be now concentrated on the 6.30 news programme which gets good audience figures and I think is a very good programme. The late night news now just seems to be an after-thought so I say let it move back to 2300, especially as it seems too short to be an authoritive look back on the day.

Well, you see I don't think that would work.

If they did that, some people who aren't interested in News would watch something else, and come 9.30pm they would be engrossed in something else.

How about something radical:

6.00 Regional Programmes
6.30 ITV Newshour inc. Regional
7.30 Emmerdale
8.00 The Bill / Tonight
8.30 Coronation Street / last 30 minutes of TB
9.00 Drama / Documentary / Film
10.00 New show / continuation
10.30 As above
11.00 ITV Late News
11.15 Drama / Documentary / Film

Have you actually watched the 10.30 bulletin? I wouldn't say it was anywhere near an afterthought. The viewing figures don't do it justice really. It's much better now than when it was the News at When

6.30 Newshour... so you'd kill the audience completly at 6pm and everyone watches the six and then with both regional and national news programmes following 30 mins after the BBC nobody watches neither

I think that was true immediately after the relaunch last year, but I don't think it's the case now TBH.

It's obviously not as well-resourced as the 6.30, but the 10.30 these days is often a very good product, with lots of international news and an appreciably more up-market, hard news agenda.

What do you suggest then to solve ITVs woeful problem?