ITV News

People keep saying on TV forum that ITV News Channel isnt live overnight!

Well, I was watching last night from midnight until 01:30am and it appeared that at 00:30 Jon Morell presented a shorter bulletin than normal which resulted in a rather long break filler and loads of promotions in the end break.

BUT then Romilly Week appeared at 01:00 and it seemed as if she was live. She presented the news for 8 minutes and then she handed over to Jon Morell which was then a repeat of the bulletin from 00:30 - 00:50 something! (lol)

THEREFORE from this I/we can assume that there is a precense at ITV News Channel overnight and that there are small live bulletins at the top of each hour? Also overnight bulletins continue on ITV1 and there is also the ITV Morning News at 05:30 to prepare for - so how much of the night isn;t actually covered by ITV News?

Also how do the other channels cope?

Well...yeah, that has always been the case. You either get recorded NC bulletins from 11/11.30 or the News at Ten Thirty repeated throughout the night, interspersed with live updates on the hour.

I think that was the 11.30 half-hour which followed the Weekend News and was repeated at midnight and 12.30. This is normal.

The News Channel is not live midnight to 5.30am and 6am to 7am.

The Morning News presenter does a summary on the News Channel at 1am which varies in length between 1 minute and 10 minutes, depending on the length of the recorded bulletin to follow (there are no ad breaks after 1am).

I am fairly sure that the 1am summary is usually pre-recorded. It is also usually replayed every 30 minutes through the night, though I guess they would drop in an updated version if necessary.

The 1am summary is usually the first time stories with a midnight embargo get a mention on the News Channel (eg the honours list, government statistics and so forth).

Not forgetting, the ITV News Channel has improved dramatically and drastically over the last 4 years. Better graphics, better done etc.

As well, don't forget the ITV News Channel is now a more formidable contender to BBC News 24 and Sky News, then it was the ITN News Channel.

[quote="Andrew"]Good to see her back.
Jonathan Morrell has done very well this weekend as well, on all evening yesterday and then from 11am to 4pm give or take an hour or so this afternoon.
/quote]

I caught some of him on Saturday and then on Sunday morning and was impressed at how he handled things.
He did well for someone who usually works on regional tv - no offence intended!

He does have rolling news experience from Sky News - albeit mostly overnights.

Am I the only one who'd like to see the NC live overnight?
The News Channel is a seriously good channel, easily rivalling the main ITV channel for interesting special programming.
There, I think, should be a News Channel presenter and Morning News sharing the overnights - anyone agree?
Or if any ITN newsreaders/reporters don't want to do the overnights, why not use ITV regional newsreaders - is this a good idea.

If Mannion and Crossley-Holland are as serious about overtaking Sky News and News 24 as they claim to be, then I think it is something they will have to attend to.

I'm really not convinced about this myself - the potential overnight audience is miniscule, after all. I'm sure ITV News must have done research into this, and decided that it was far better to spend the money that overnight broadcasting would have cost them on improving the output during the day, when there is at least a measurable audience (albeit not much of one in their case!)

Maybe so - but I think the status quo is unsatisfactory and damaging to the channel's credibility in that full, live output effectively ceases at 11.30pm - just half an hour after the News Channel is cross-promoted at the end of the News at 10.30

They are obviously loathe to include any breaking news that happens between 11.30 and midnight because although that sequence is live, it is repeated at midnight and 12.30am.

Even if overnights remain recorded, I think they need to do four things:

1) Extend the live service till 1am. Amongst other things this would enable them to better cover stories with a midnight embargo etc which currently don't get a proper airing until the Morning News at 5.30. It would also match the closedown of News 24's full, UK-focussed service.

2) Tidy up the overnight output so it is less messy - maybe run a repeat of the ITV News Network at xx.30 to increase variety. They should also be more honest about what is live and what isn't.

3) Ditch the repeats of the Morning News at 6am and 6.30am - the NC should either do its own thing or simulcast the GMTV Newshour.

4) Have better provision to deal with expected overnight breaking stories such as by-election results and the like.

I like those ideas.
Surely though, if they have a live presenter anyway, why can't they stretch out the summarys so that they are actual half hourly bulletins on the hour through the night, the only exception being 5am, when they'd use a summary, due to the Morning News at 5:30.

With the lack of ad breaks they could use the extra five minutes for an indepth weather report.

Then they could air shows every half hour, perhaps including an Evening News Programme from America, a Sports Programme based on the day's sports news (could be recorded by Felicity or Steve before the 10:30, or by a region), and perhaps a few documentaries and in depth report of the day, or a past report.

I also like the way that ITV rely on the regions, now that they are one big ITV News group, if there is any news that an ITN reporter and/or news crew can't get to quickly, then it's a great idea to have a regional team go to the scene as quickly as possible and report back for them, therefore they'd be quicker with the pictures and gain a level of respect in the world of news and could get rating boosts out of it.

It's like International Correspondants. I've never understood why ITN don't come up with a deal with a broadcaster in whatever country they are based in so that the reporters report for ITN/ITV (if they need to), or work for the broadcaster. Therefore ITV/ITN could hire more correspondants based more locally with the World, and would be quicker with pictures if they also use the broadcasters equipment.

Obviously the correspondants would have to be fluent in a language, but I'm sure they could find people, even if they are from that country, yet speak fluent English.

Im just wondering what is currently happening on the ITV News Channel?

At midday there was coverage of Prime Minister's Question Time complete with some technical problems and then the ITV Lunchtime News at 12:30 - both as billed!

Nic Owen said that coming up on the ITV NC was further discussion about the possible smoking ban in Scotland.
But when I turned over at 13:00 to ITVNC they had started showing Prime Ministers Question Time again complete with LIVE strap and 12:01 clock!

I turned back over around 13:15 and they are now showing a replay of the ITV Lunchtime News from 13:30 - I wonder if they will reshow the London Tonight bulletin aswell?

Does anyone know what is happening and why?