Just noticed tonight after the late weekend news that UTV broadcast a pollen count, which is new for them. It had UTV branding on the map but the sponsor sting had ITV branding which made me wonder if this was standard practice in other regions. Do all other regions broadcast these?
Yorkshire have also re-introduced pollen counts (which they have had for a good few years during this time of the year), with the same Electrical Safety Council stings. Why do the "low", "medium"... etc graphics on the map appear too vertically stretched?
In my opinion it's about high time for the national/regional weather forecasts to get a serious revamp. The current graphics are dreary and abysmal in appearance. Compare the national weather now to a forecast from about ten years ago and note the improvement in quality (both presentation and graphics-wise)!
UTV ran a pollen count from 1996-1998 (read by the on-duty announcer after UTV Live at Six), then replaced it with "UTV Air Watch" (which ran after all weather forecasts and voiced by whoever did the weather forecast) until around 2001.
I remember seeing from TV listings that Anglia had its own Air Watch for a few years in the late 1990s.
ITV Weather is poor. They're still in presenting in the style of the 1990's weather forecasts with the fluffy cloud with the sun poking out above where its going to be cloudy and sunny. Compare this to other offerings (including BBC, Sky, GMTV) and you can see how much weather forecasts have moved on. To give GMTV some positive feedback for a change, I think their weather is the best on TV. Its hard to believe that ITV are the majority shareholder in this company yet their own main weather is the worst on TV. Definitely time for a revamp.
Anglia News have been doing a pollen count for a good few years now, and started airing it again last week (I think). It's normally a good excuse for Anglia to use the 3D weather map, focusing on the region from the west, complete with weather presenter unlike UTV.
I can't remember whether Granada opted for the Pollen Count or the "ITV UV Sun Care Report sponsored by...." which is what they definately did last year which must have bombed for the lack of Summer we had.
UTV use them for their Pollen Count, Ski Weather and Holiday Weather but have never used them during the ordinary forecast. I also don't recall them ever being used on the ITV National Weather forecast either. They're so much better looking!
Noticed today that the sponsor sting for the Pollen Count has been changed to read simply 'Sponsors of Pollen Count' rather than ITV Pollen Count. Perhaps UTV complained about the ITV mention?