ITV News

I noticed that. The person who wasn't credited is probably owed an apology.

Something that's been getting on my nerves lately - will someone please tell sports reporter Natalie Pirks to stop speaking with her hands?!



That really was the strength of ITV's news in those days - it was simply the news, straight to the point with no fluff. Simple so it could be understood by all, but never watered down or patronising. We all know they're still capable of doing it... they just don't do it as much as they used to. But when they get it right, they really do knock the other broadcasters out of the park.

However, I really do think "ITV News" is a broken brand today - it just doesn't conjure up the image of an energetic, respected and trusted news service, which is a huge shame, as anything fantastic they do just isn't recognised enough by the public. And while a return to "ITN" branding might be very interesting for some of us here, it would be counter-productive - not to mention a bizarre decision in this day and age. Can the reputation of ITV News be turned around (if the powers that be ever decided to go back to the "old" direction) or has the damage been done? I still find it amazing to think that ITV news programmes used to rate higher than the BBC's back in the '80s and '90s. I can't imagine that happening now!

The new bulletins in 1999 are what messed it up IMO. They shouldn't have moved the News at Ten. The 1999 look was still professional. I think it's the 2004 rebrand that made it look a bit tacky, what with the virtual studio and standing up presentation.

They started to get back to the design looking good by 2008, but then the 2009 rebrand came along.

I don't think returning to the ITN brand would be counterproductive, I think it would give some gravitas which the 'ITV News' brand will always struggle to get.

The key question you need to ask is does ITN hold as much gravitas now as it did prior to 1999? I don't think it does, and I don't really see what returning to that branding would achieve. Besides, ITN News now exists online so ITV may not want to return to that branding because they'll be associated with the online content and vice versa- when they are two separate entities.

BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News all carry branding based on the channel they air so it would be a bit outdated for ITV to 'opt' out of that, and also what does it say about 'ITV' if they were to drop 'ITV News'. It would look like they can't be bothered or can't be trusted with their own output particularly after the Daybreak fiasco and the hammering ITV Sport always gets.

ITV can claw back some credibility to their news output if they wanted to. The 2008 incarnation of News at Ten followed by following that look out across the other bulletins appeared to do that, and then the 2009 look came along. I really do think they need to remodel News at Ten to be similar to and hard hitting as Newsnight or even Channel 4 News. Noone watches it anyway so they should do it for reputation and to strengthen the overall brand. I think the 6.30pm bulletin is fine as it is, 1.30pm is a little lightweight and celebrity focused but it suits its daytime audience I guess.

All of that said, ITV can recoup their gravitas but they'll never be better than BBC News. It was always in ITN News' shadow until they changed branding but in the last decade they've established themselves firmly as the number one news broadcaster, and because they're tax payer funded they won't be allowed to drop from that position now they're there. Besides, with the news channel, ITV just can't compete. News channels aren't profitable so ITV won't have another in their present form, so the size of the BBC News operation dwarfs ITV News and that in itself brings gravitas.

The fact that the BBC operation dwarfs that of ITV News goes to show how good ITV News is. They obviously get a lot more for their money than the BBC does. But going forward, I think ITV would find it much easier to market ITN as a serious source of news than they can with ITV News. Uniform branding has not been a great success on ITV, think Daybreak for example, so having a different brand should be seen as a problem.

When did News at Ten get their own closing theme?

This is from November 2009, when the new look came in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NWleJNfO0g&t=1m21s

This is the current close theme (I realise that this is a mock, but the music is the same):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5epUQAzLPo&t=0m40s

Never noticed that before!! News at 10 would've had that closing theme all the time if it was the closing of the first new look!

The second one has a better build up to the theme, which is currently on the Ten.

Also, we know the studio has CSO problems, yet they don't seem to have it on this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcCN8bRQfFg

The answer is... the very next day. As I recall, the News at Ten version of the closing theme hadn't been loaded on to SpotOn in time for the first broadcast of the new look. So, they only had the generic closing theme to use that night, however it was quickly rectified.

Maybe I'm wrong, but that whole thing looks virtual, even the desk. I wouldn't be surprised if that's Studio 1, which is entirely green without a desk.

Even if it is entirely virtual, they would have had to have shot the pan and ran it through the VR software anyway