What should the ITV News Channel do to improve?

Now, it seems that the ITV News Channel is nowhere compared to its rivals, BBC News 24 and Sky News. I may be wrong, but judging by a vast amount of comments on this forum it seems that the NC is an unpopular choice for rolling news.

So what can it do to improve? Re-organise presenter line-ups? Enhance its promotion? Change the way it goes about presenting the stories?

Personally I think the Channel has the capability to go places, should they push the right buttons. They've some good anchors, and have had some big exclusives in the past few months, but I can't seem to work out where it is failing.

I think this is a good opportunity for BBC/Sky fans and anti-ITV News forumers to share their thoughts of where they feel their Channel is proving a success, and where the subject is going wrong.

do you work for itv News?

there nothing wrong with it, that I can see!
it alright althourgh I hate the theme music but.....

What should the ITV News Channel do to improve?

Answer: ALOT!

The thing is, they regard it as something small, when the BBC regard their news channel as a very important part of their running of news.

They don't seem to put a huge amount of effort into it though. They have one of the best and durable sets in the business, but they don't like to show it off!

Plus whenever I seem to turn it on its always, *Drum roll please* a Sports Update, which leads to remind me of RTE News which means a total turn off!

They arn't there yet, but they are getting there. Just a few improvements, a bit more effort and enthusiasm they will have it right!!

I'm so sorry, I never realised you were blind.

that bad? ITV news has alway been like that !
fully of glame and dizzyal, and nothing fully of meat.

news on itv is ever
1: VERY VERY hardhitting
or
2: nice

Oh I tried that diet once.

It gave me gas.

I'm pretty happy with the current standard of the Channel, the Editorial is much better than what it is was when it started, I'd only change the Presenter line-up by giving them fixed slots and to add a bit of creditability keep it Live until 1.00am at the earliest.

ITV News Channel is far different than BBC News 24 or Sky News, as it is fairly new on the scene compared to BBC or Sky, it's badly placed on the Sky EPG AIUI. It only has one source of income, advertising, compared to the others who recieve funding via Licence Fee or Subscription, so adverts are neccessary.

ITV Plc have invested a fair bit into the channel since it started, a better presenter line-up, making use of the ITV News Group something the BBC doesn't do much at all and it's something Sky can't do.

Remember it used to be the ITN News Channel which was losing alot of money and had to cut back to the minimum to keep going, fortunately it was bought by Carlton and Granada, once they merged the focus was more centered, in that it recieved funding from only one company rather than two, Carlton and Granada or ITN and NTL which it used to be.

The idea that all the ITV News Channel needs is a few 'fresh' ideas and a change in the presenter line-up is nonsense. It's simply a case of rearranging the deck-chairs while the Titanic slowly sinks.

ITV NC will NEVER compete with Sky and BBC News 24 because of its budget. It's run on a shoestring compared wih the other two - and it shows. 24 hour news is an expensive business and ITN doesn't have a rich sugar daddy to subsidise it.

It's always been a vanity project - originally for ITN, who thought, simply because they were ITN, they could run a 24 hour news-channel on a fraction of everyone else's budget and somehow make it work. Now it's a vanity project for ITV - who want some digital presence and desire a 'family' of channels.

In financial terms this is as good as it gets for ITV NC. There's no money in 24 hour news in this country. Sky runs at a loss and always has done. Murdoch subsidises it, as it gives him a certain cache and influence, and adds a gleen of prestige to the Sky brand. And the BBC, god bless it, is the BBC and can afford to spend a decent amount of money on its news service (a perfect example of why the license fee and the BBC are so indispensable, but that's another story).

In short - you can spend a decent amount of money on your news channel - and run permanent losses. Or you can do what ITV are doing and continue with a piss-poor imitation of a news channel. ITV's a plc so it'll do the latter.

And don't get me started on ITV not paying enough for its network bulletins...

You could just read what was said last week when this subject was mentioned, or every week for the last 2 years.

The same ideas will be trotted out, as if people think if you say them often enough it might actually happen (It should be live after Midnight, yeah never heard that idea before etc), then there will be yet another mock schedule posted

Surely though it's about ITV's willingness to invest into the channel?

No it's far too bland, everytime I flick through the channels and catch a glmpse of it the first thing I think of is Five News. Over the top graphics in my opinion.

But ITV doesn't give a flying toss about news and current affairs. Look at the scrapping of News at Ten (a sacred cow for the viewers, but ITV sees profit margins so it's bye-bye), look at the rumours about the scrapping of News at Ten Thirty, look at the abandonment of decent current affairs in the schedule (all we have is pop-tabloid Tonight), look at the way ITV's cut its news budget every time it could in the last 15 years.

ITV is happy to let ITV NC limp along as it gives them digital 'presence' - but if they found something more profitable to do with the airspace, they'd scrap it. I repeat - 24 hour news doesn't make money, any investment would be waste of money for them.

As Greg Dyke said in the recent history of ITV - money-men run ITV now, not TV-men.