ITV News Channel- Why Bother?

Very true, but that was exactly the reason why I chose those figures - when a major event was occuring, people decided to overwhelmingly turn to the BBC and Sky over ITV, and there must be a better reason than it being off freeview or further down the EPG.



Admittedly, it has improved since the ITN days, but some parts of that format do still exist. There are many times during the day where there are no lives or guests, especially when in the second studio, and they do still rely heavily on reports and whole half hours being repeated without being updated. With Sky or BBC, you can guarantee that there will be a large number of lives, and reports are updated throughout the day at a higher rate than at ITV.
Secondly, ITV is the nations largest commercial broadcaster, and it has 50yrs of news gathering behind it. How can it be said the name or brand 'ITV News Channel' is not recognisable when they have that history, albeit it was called ITN news until a couple of years ago, but people arent stupid and know what theyre getting - they'll realise 'ITV news Channel' is owned by the same people that broadcast news on ITV for 50yrs.
I dont see how EPG number can have that much of an impact either - if you know a channel is worth watching, then you would skip the crap and go straight to it. Plus, its not difficult for people to remember Sky is on 501 and ITV news is on 525, it takes the same amount of time to key in the number on the remote.

I fully agree with you about The ITN News Channel, it was OK, but it was nowhere near as good as the BBC or Sky at the time, probably because it was started when ITN was losing alot of money and the other shareholder being NTL, so the channel didn't have much going for it.

Yes the ITV News Channel has had a sluggish start but I like to watch it and I prefer it to BBC News 24 and Sky News for many reasons, one main reason being that they don't use OTT on screen graphics that clutter up the bottom half of the screen, that really puts me off Sky News believe it or not. One other great thing about the ITV News Channel is that it fully exploits the use of ITV's Regional Network, we get to see some stories that might interest people, stories within the UK. The great advantage to ITV about this is that it's something the BBC won't do and it's something that Sky can't do, it also doesn't cost ITV too much money either.

But I agree with comments that also let the ITV News Channel down, overnight is a bit of a disgrace IMO, granted they can't afford to have it Live overnight, but they shouldn't replay the 10.30pm News until 5.30am the next morning. It's also a bit of a shame that they do let themselves down with the ad breaks in important stories, but ITV needs the money I'm afraid. They do also let themselves down with Freeview too, it's a shame that it's only back on in London, IIRC it should be back on Central, but it isn't.

ITV News is only new-ish and still has time to establish itself, it has done this on Freeview but hasn't on Sky, probably (note Probably) because it is so low in the EPG compared to Sky News and BBC News 24. ITV also doesn't have a Satellite bias compared to Sky News, which is also annoys me as an NTL viewer, constantly told to Press Red for this that and the other, where as with ITV there is none of that, it's just a News channel.

Also remember though ITV has the resources to run a successful News channel, it's only main income is Advertising, where as the BBC has the Licence Fee and Sky has Subscription and the whole NewsCorp thing behind them.

IMO ITV News Channel does a good job, and if you don't like it, don't watch it.

I can not believe that people are criticising a commercial network for taking commercial breaks. And suddenly, it seems that on this forum it's "let's bash ITN week", glibly describing the graffics as tacky, naff etc.
OK, the way ITV News does its thing isn't to everyone's taste, but the presentation and style is unique for Britain - just look at what they try to do every day. Sometimes it doesn't always work but at least they're trying to be modern and different. Sometimes you read these forums and it looks as though everyone longs for Jan Leeming to come back and sit behind a desk in a frily blouse.
Also, these stupid personal attacks on members' comments are deeply naff and tiresome, unlike, in my view, itv news.

If that's true, then defend the decisions of the ITV NC that I outlined to kick off this thread.

What about Fox, CNN etc in the US....do these people make money? I genuinely don't know- but I do know that they would never cut away from such an event for adverts because it makes no COMMERCIAL sense (we're thinking long-term, not next months revenues).

It's almost the same thing - ITN/ITV News Channel.

No it isn't.

What I am saying is that it is both the ITV and ITN News Channels are produced by ITN. That is what I mean by almost the same thing.

"The Returning Officer is just coming to the podium in Tony Blair's constituency of Sedgefield. We'll bring you that result on the ITV News Channel after this short break".

That doesn't necessarily mean they have to be the same thing or anything like it. I think we'd all agree that ITV News and Channel 4 News are poles apart in almost every respect, but they are both produced by ITN. Five News too, when it was produced by ITN, was distinctive in its own way. All of which goes to show that ITN is essentially a production company, producing programmes that the client (network) wants.

They're at it again today - taking breaks in the middle of the parties' main morning press conferences...

You know why they do it - they need the revenue now . I know they're probably putting short term income ahead of long term strategic interests, but that's hardly a failing that's unique to ITV - it's a criticism that can be levelled at many, many organisations that are obliged to produce short term profits for their shareholders, rather than following what could ultimately be more profitable long term strategies.

ITV plc have just recently reported pre-tax profits of £340m. Isn't it time we started seeing some of that on screen ?