MM
Lucy Meacock is a great addition to the ITV National News rota. Her newscasting repartee is similar to what Carol Barnes and Julia Somerville. I know she is a newscaster for Granada Television, but I would like to see her join ITV News on a permanent basis - and for her to replace Nina Hossain.
Seeing as we are discussing ITV News: I discovered a videotape buried in my attic, where I discovered an ITN News bulletin from New Year's Day 1993 [after I put it in the video recorder].
Dermot Murnaghan was the newscaster and he stated something amongst the lines of:
"ITN's contract to supply the news for ITV has been extended for 4 years at a cost of £53million - the highest agreement ever in television".
I don't have the videotape at hand but it was amongst those lines and I was not quoting word-for-word.
The point being of me writing that was to say that after repeated budget cuts you can tell the difference between [if you compare them with newspapers] ITN News being the Daily Mail or The Guardian and ITV News being The Sun with some Daily Mirror.
When the time comes for ITV News to have a presentation makeover, personally I would like to see:
News At Ten, the Morning News and ITV News Specials coming from Virtual Reality
Evening News [being moved back to 5.40] with an actual newsroom backdrop. And having the same look applies for all ITV News output.
Seeing as we are discussing ITV News: I discovered a videotape buried in my attic, where I discovered an ITN News bulletin from New Year's Day 1993 [after I put it in the video recorder].
Dermot Murnaghan was the newscaster and he stated something amongst the lines of:
"ITN's contract to supply the news for ITV has been extended for 4 years at a cost of £53million - the highest agreement ever in television".
I don't have the videotape at hand but it was amongst those lines and I was not quoting word-for-word.
The point being of me writing that was to say that after repeated budget cuts you can tell the difference between [if you compare them with newspapers] ITN News being the Daily Mail or The Guardian and ITV News being The Sun with some Daily Mirror.
When the time comes for ITV News to have a presentation makeover, personally I would like to see:
News At Ten, the Morning News and ITV News Specials coming from Virtual Reality
Evening News [being moved back to 5.40] with an actual newsroom backdrop. And having the same look applies for all ITV News output.
IT
itsrobert
Founding member
I think they'd struggle to achieve your hopes for the Evening News, unless they moved London Tonight into the currently vacant basement studio that was used for ITV News until 2004. That studio was used for ITV bulletins before 1999 when they had a real newsroom backdrop and then became home to the ITN News Channel in 2000. The only other newsroom studio is that formerly used by Channel 5, now occupied by Setanta.
NI
Speaking of early 1990s ITN: AIUI, before ITN moved to Gray's Inn Road in about 1991, both the News at One / Lunchtime News as well as News at Ten came from the same studio (introduced in about 1987/1988), but with different backgrounds and lighting behind the curved desk; however, why did the Lunchtime News appear to have the same look from about 1991 to 1995, complete with the old studio, despite the fact that ITN moved from their old building? I very much doubt ITN kept their previous building so did they recreate the old studio at Gray's Inn Road? Or am I getting completely confused, and the LN was presented from the newsroom in the atrium between 1992 and 1995? Certainly the Early Evening News and all other bulletins (bar NaT) were presented from the newsroom, but from two clips on TV Ark of the LN from 1992 and 1993, it appears the studio used from 1987 was kept solely for this bulletin until the mid-1995 revamp of all programmes (again bar NaT).
I know this might seem like an odd query (or queries), but I just wanted to see if anyone knows or remembers!
I know this might seem like an odd query (or queries), but I just wanted to see if anyone knows or remembers!
IT
itsrobert
Founding member
My guess is that they recreated the old set at Gray's Inn Road. There are two proper television studios in the basement there so I presume they used one of those for the LTN until 1995. One of them is currently used for ITV News and the other is, at the moment, vacant. It used to be used for ITV News until the 2004 relaunch, at which point it became the CSO studio used by the News Channel during rehearsals for the main news bulletins.
FA
Is the second studio still a CSO studio, for presentations, and what I presumed was used with Jeremy Vine for the US Election BBC coverage?
If they wanted to change the set and create an actual ITV News set, yet keep the current News At Ten set, surely they could do the News At Ten from the CSO studio (if it still exists), though it would be cheaper I suppose to just create different backgrounds for the current studio.
itsrobert posted:
My guess is that they recreated the old set at Gray's Inn Road. There are two proper television studios in the basement there so I presume they used one of those for the LTN until 1995. One of them is currently used for ITV News and the other is, at the moment, vacant. It used to be used for ITV News until the 2004 relaunch, at which point it became the CSO studio used by the News Channel during rehearsals for the main news bulletins.
Is the second studio still a CSO studio, for presentations, and what I presumed was used with Jeremy Vine for the US Election BBC coverage?
If they wanted to change the set and create an actual ITV News set, yet keep the current News At Ten set, surely they could do the News At Ten from the CSO studio (if it still exists), though it would be cheaper I suppose to just create different backgrounds for the current studio.
IT
Is the second studio still a CSO studio, for presentations, and what I presumed was used with Jeremy Vine for the US Election BBC coverage?
If they wanted to change the set and create an actual ITV News set, yet keep the current News At Ten set, surely they could do the News At Ten from the CSO studio (if it still exists), though it would be cheaper I suppose to just create different backgrounds for the current studio.
Yes, it still is a CSO studio. I don't recall now whether or not the ITV NC desk is still in there or not. But I do remember a lot of green!
itsrobert
Founding member
fanoftv posted:
itsrobert posted:
My guess is that they recreated the old set at Gray's Inn Road. There are two proper television studios in the basement there so I presume they used one of those for the LTN until 1995. One of them is currently used for ITV News and the other is, at the moment, vacant. It used to be used for ITV News until the 2004 relaunch, at which point it became the CSO studio used by the News Channel during rehearsals for the main news bulletins.
Is the second studio still a CSO studio, for presentations, and what I presumed was used with Jeremy Vine for the US Election BBC coverage?
If they wanted to change the set and create an actual ITV News set, yet keep the current News At Ten set, surely they could do the News At Ten from the CSO studio (if it still exists), though it would be cheaper I suppose to just create different backgrounds for the current studio.
Yes, it still is a CSO studio. I don't recall now whether or not the ITV NC desk is still in there or not. But I do remember a lot of green!
MM
There have been repeated ITN budget slashings by ITV over the last decade with no improvement.
I bet News At Ten is only broadcast for ITV's benefit and not to raise ITN's profile.
What I would do if I was ITN Chief Executive is:
- Storm over to Michael Grade's office and demand more money into ITN's coffers to be a more superior rival to the opposition. How can this be done? ITV bosses can withdraw their bonuses to pay for it.
- Force Grade to reinstate the 'ITN News' branding and if he does not comply, threaten to withdraw ITN's commitment to provide news on ITV [I believe Grade is keen on continuing with ITN so I don't think he'd agree with it going].
People would argue that if I would do that, it would be equal to ransom. It is not - it is strong negotiating.
Come on, ITN, stand up to Michael Grade!
I bet News At Ten is only broadcast for ITV's benefit and not to raise ITN's profile.
What I would do if I was ITN Chief Executive is:
- Storm over to Michael Grade's office and demand more money into ITN's coffers to be a more superior rival to the opposition. How can this be done? ITV bosses can withdraw their bonuses to pay for it.
- Force Grade to reinstate the 'ITN News' branding and if he does not comply, threaten to withdraw ITN's commitment to provide news on ITV [I believe Grade is keen on continuing with ITN so I don't think he'd agree with it going].
People would argue that if I would do that, it would be equal to ransom. It is not - it is strong negotiating.
Come on, ITN, stand up to Michael Grade!
CW
And baring in mind that ITV Plc is a major shareholder of ITN (about 40%) you would have almost no chance.
Charlie Wells
Moderator
McMahon posted:
There have been repeated ITN budget slashings by ITV over the last decade with no improvement.
I bet News At Ten is only broadcast for ITV's benefit and not to raise ITN's profile.
What I would do if I was ITN Chief Executive is:
- Storm over to Michael Grade's office and demand more money into ITN's coffers to be a more superior rival to the opposition. How can this be done? ITV bosses can withdraw their bonuses to pay for it.
- Force Grade to reinstate the 'ITN News' branding and if he does not comply, threaten to withdraw ITN's commitment to provide news on ITV [I believe Grade is keen on continuing with ITN so I don't think he'd agree with it going].
People would argue that if I would do that, it would be equal to ransom. It is not - it is strong negotiating.
Come on, ITN, stand up to Michael Grade!
I bet News At Ten is only broadcast for ITV's benefit and not to raise ITN's profile.
What I would do if I was ITN Chief Executive is:
- Storm over to Michael Grade's office and demand more money into ITN's coffers to be a more superior rival to the opposition. How can this be done? ITV bosses can withdraw their bonuses to pay for it.
- Force Grade to reinstate the 'ITN News' branding and if he does not comply, threaten to withdraw ITN's commitment to provide news on ITV [I believe Grade is keen on continuing with ITN so I don't think he'd agree with it going].
People would argue that if I would do that, it would be equal to ransom. It is not - it is strong negotiating.
Come on, ITN, stand up to Michael Grade!
And baring in mind that ITV Plc is a major shareholder of ITN (about 40%) you would have almost no chance.
NG
Why should ITV pay anythign to boost ITN's profile? ITN isn't a franchise holder (as GMTV is), it is a programme supplier, just like independent production companies. ITV is the customer, who provide ITN with their most lucrative production contract - why should the supplier benefit in any other way than financially?
Of course the fact that ITV Plc owns a large chunk of ITN confuses this situation, somewhat...
What I would do if I was ITN Chief Executive is:
- Storm over to Michael Grade's office and demand more money into ITN's coffers to be a more superior rival to the opposition. How can this be done? ITV bosses can withdraw their bonuses to pay for it.
Why should a programme provider dictate how a broadcaster manages itself?
ITN and ITV agreed a contract to supply news. ITN were in competition with Sky News (and possibly Reuters?) and agreed a deal with ITV.
It's called a contract.
You don't start re-negotiating a contract in the manner you suggest... There may well be "exceptional circumstance" clauses - in fact I seem to recall that ITV paid ITN extra because of the greater amount of news events that they had to cover a while back.
Should the Chief Exec of Endemol go up to the Head of Channel Four and demand similar action to pay more for Big Brother? Should the Chief Exec of Kudos do the same for the BBC and Spooks?
- Force Grade to reinstate the 'ITN News' branding and if he does not comply, threaten to withdraw ITN's commitment to provide news on ITV [I believe Grade is keen on continuing with ITN so I don't think he'd agree with it going].
??? Why should ITV be forced into branding the news programmes they pay ITN to produce for them in such a manner. ITN are providing a service agreed with ITV. ITV wished to harmonise their news branding across ITV News outlets - so regional and national news were both branded ITV News on-screen.
In the current climate - I think that ITN are unlikely to do anything to rock the boat. Having lost the Five News contract to Sky, I would think they would need to be careful not to lose the ITV News contract. If it is cheaper to go with Sky News next time round, and wind up ITN, I wouldn't put it past ITV. (Though the government / Ofcom may be concerned about plurality of commercial news provision and what happens to Channel Four News etc.)
Yes - I'm sure Michael Grade wishes to continue to work with ITN - they are part of the history of ITV and Grade realises that ITV has often paid too little attention to that in recent years. However the days of ITN branding on ITV are dead and buried - ITV has taken the decision, which it has every right to, to brand the news services it buys in in a different manner.
People would argue that if I would do that, it would be equal to ransom. It is not - it is strong negotiating.
Or commercial suicide.
When the next contract renewal comes round - that is the time for negotiation - but most of the steps you suggest are pure fantasy...
noggin
Founding member
McMahon posted:
There have been repeated ITN budget slashings by ITV over the last decade with no improvement.
I bet News At Ten is only broadcast for ITV's benefit and not to raise ITN's profile.
I bet News At Ten is only broadcast for ITV's benefit and not to raise ITN's profile.
Why should ITV pay anythign to boost ITN's profile? ITN isn't a franchise holder (as GMTV is), it is a programme supplier, just like independent production companies. ITV is the customer, who provide ITN with their most lucrative production contract - why should the supplier benefit in any other way than financially?
Of course the fact that ITV Plc owns a large chunk of ITN confuses this situation, somewhat...
Quote:
What I would do if I was ITN Chief Executive is:
- Storm over to Michael Grade's office and demand more money into ITN's coffers to be a more superior rival to the opposition. How can this be done? ITV bosses can withdraw their bonuses to pay for it.
Why should a programme provider dictate how a broadcaster manages itself?
ITN and ITV agreed a contract to supply news. ITN were in competition with Sky News (and possibly Reuters?) and agreed a deal with ITV.
It's called a contract.
You don't start re-negotiating a contract in the manner you suggest... There may well be "exceptional circumstance" clauses - in fact I seem to recall that ITV paid ITN extra because of the greater amount of news events that they had to cover a while back.
Should the Chief Exec of Endemol go up to the Head of Channel Four and demand similar action to pay more for Big Brother? Should the Chief Exec of Kudos do the same for the BBC and Spooks?
Quote:
- Force Grade to reinstate the 'ITN News' branding and if he does not comply, threaten to withdraw ITN's commitment to provide news on ITV [I believe Grade is keen on continuing with ITN so I don't think he'd agree with it going].
??? Why should ITV be forced into branding the news programmes they pay ITN to produce for them in such a manner. ITN are providing a service agreed with ITV. ITV wished to harmonise their news branding across ITV News outlets - so regional and national news were both branded ITV News on-screen.
In the current climate - I think that ITN are unlikely to do anything to rock the boat. Having lost the Five News contract to Sky, I would think they would need to be careful not to lose the ITV News contract. If it is cheaper to go with Sky News next time round, and wind up ITN, I wouldn't put it past ITV. (Though the government / Ofcom may be concerned about plurality of commercial news provision and what happens to Channel Four News etc.)
Yes - I'm sure Michael Grade wishes to continue to work with ITN - they are part of the history of ITV and Grade realises that ITV has often paid too little attention to that in recent years. However the days of ITN branding on ITV are dead and buried - ITV has taken the decision, which it has every right to, to brand the news services it buys in in a different manner.
Quote:
People would argue that if I would do that, it would be equal to ransom. It is not - it is strong negotiating.
Or commercial suicide.
When the next contract renewal comes round - that is the time for negotiation - but most of the steps you suggest are pure fantasy...
MM
I see my idea of a pre-eminent ITN is not very popular. I keep forgetting ITV is a shareholder. However, it is impossible to say that ITN would not do what I proposed.
As you probably can tell, I do not perceive ITV News to be a good title as a huge chunk of Britain will agree with me. I see the point of the ITV News name being a "united national and regional news service" but I think the voices of both sides should be heard.
But then again, ITV only owns 40%, the other 60% is independent from ITV - The Daily Mail and Reuters. Surely that has a large factor in ITN's decisions? The question being rhetorical.
Anyway, I think the only way for ITV to reclaim its tag of "Most Watched Television Channel" is if it holds regular opinion polls so "the viewers decide what they want". I presume that will be one way for a populist network.
As you probably can tell, I do not perceive ITV News to be a good title as a huge chunk of Britain will agree with me. I see the point of the ITV News name being a "united national and regional news service" but I think the voices of both sides should be heard.
But then again, ITV only owns 40%, the other 60% is independent from ITV - The Daily Mail and Reuters. Surely that has a large factor in ITN's decisions? The question being rhetorical.
Anyway, I think the only way for ITV to reclaim its tag of "Most Watched Television Channel" is if it holds regular opinion polls so "the viewers decide what they want". I presume that will be one way for a populist network.