The Newsroom

The ITV News Channel is no longer broadcasting

(October 2005)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
KE
Kennedy6969
RR posted:
One of the further problems for the ITV News Channel if it does go from DTT is that I am sure ITV will be reluctant to cross-promote it on the other channels, for fear of driving people to cable / satellite.


Don't forget that Sky iscurrently looking at its EPG channel line-up and it may be that ITV NC gets promoted. That should boost its audience in Sky homes and therefore not being on Freeview would be less of an issue.
KE
Kennedy6969
[quote="nwtv2003"][quote="Adam"]
Alexia posted:



No matter what people think of the channel (whether you love it or hate it) I like it, it provides a good alternative from the BBC or Sky, and also exploits the ITV Regions which the BBC doesn't do and Sky can't do.

If they did take it off Freeview then it wouldn't have long left, same as the ITN Channel, on DTT (which at that time was failing) it was only on from 5.30am until 9.00am, it was lost on Sky, well promoted on NTL but still wasn't successful and was near death.


This idea that ITV NC and BBC do regional news better than Sky is a bit of a myth. Yes, they have the capability but how often do they use it? There was an announcemnet of a smoking ban in Northern Ireland this week and the only station to show the Ministerial speech live was Sky.
KE
Kennedy6969
Brekkie Boy posted:


And back to the OFCOM thing - I really do think they should have tighter control of what TV companies put on their Freeview muxs. They seem to give out licences for slots that don't exist, and then companies can do what they like with their own slots - so dump a news channel in favour of a mens channel!

Some flexibility is fine, but IMO if ITV want to change the use of one of their slots on their mux from one channel to another, they should be required to get permission!


And finally - something that's just cropped into my head - and talking of OFCOM, something they probably wouldn't allow, but I'm sure most, if not all, Freeview viewers still have the analogue channels, so how about dumping ITV1 instead!


That's exactly what Ofcom were set up to reduce -- command and control of everything that's on TV.
LO
Londoner
Kennedy6969 posted:
Londoner posted:
martinDTanderson posted:
There can be no political ramifications unless they had a remit to provide 24hour news

Of course ITV aren't required to provide the service, and as such they could shut it down completely whenever they wish, but that doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a political reaction to such a move in the light of the wider debate about the future of ITV and its commitment to national and regional news, and PSB in general.

There's no PSB element to this as ITV News Channel is not a public service broadcaster. As a digital channel it has a standard digital licence the same as any other channel i.e Sky One, UKTV Gold.

I am well aware of that, which is why I spoke of putting the NC issue in the context of the "wider debate".

In any case, ITV would probably argue that the news channel is PSB (with a small p, s and b, if you like) even though it is not a public service obligation .
MA
marksi
Quote:
This idea that ITV NC and BBC do regional news better than Sky is a bit of a myth. Yes, they have the capability but how often do they use it? There was an announcemnet of a smoking ban in Northern Ireland this week and the only station to show the Ministerial speech live was Sky.


Er, no - I watched it on BBC News 24.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
marksi posted:
Quote:
This idea that ITV NC and BBC do regional news better than Sky is a bit of a myth. Yes, they have the capability but how often do they use it? There was an announcemnet of a smoking ban in Northern Ireland this week and the only station to show the Ministerial speech live was Sky.


Er, no - I watched it on BBC News 24.


Indeed, so did I. Probably best to get your facts straight before posting.
BR
Brekkie
Kennedy6969 posted:
RR posted:
One of the further problems for the ITV News Channel if it does go from DTT is that I am sure ITV will be reluctant to cross-promote it on the other channels, for fear of driving people to cable / satellite.


Don't forget that Sky iscurrently looking at its EPG channel line-up and it may be that ITV NC gets promoted. That should boost its audience in Sky homes and therefore not being on Freeview would be less of an issue.


Well, early previews suggest it'll move to 508. It won't actually move up the EPG, just all the gaps will be removed so rather than being seperated in 3's, they go up in 1's.
MA
Matrix
Not sure if this has been mentioned and my apologises if it has but there are reports this morning that ITV intend to keep both Men and Motors and the ITV News Channel.
LO
Londoner
Broadcast posted:
Future of ITV News Channel hangs in balance
Colin Robertson
27 October 2005 07:50

ITV executives are in eleventh-hour talks over whether to dump the ITV News Channel from Freeview, a decision that may spell the end for the three-year-old service.

ITV needs to move either the ITV News Channel or Men and Motors off Freeview to make way for new service ITV4, which launches on Tuesday (1 November). ITV only has five slots on the platform.

Sources said it is likely that the ITV News Channel, produced by ITN, will be sacrificed as it loses the most money (Men and Motors is expected to break even next year). The ITV News Channel's annual programme budget is £3.5m.

It is possible that ITV may continue to screen ITV News during the downtime of ITV4, however this could be a short-term measure as ITV plans to launch a kids channel in the space in February.

Leaving Freeview would cut 5 million homes off from the service overnight and insiders suggest the remaining carriage on cable and Sky will not be enough to justify its survival. Ratings are already extremely low - often a fifth of rivals Sky News and BBC News 24.
MA
Matrix
What a difference a day makes...
TW
Time Warp
Yep, I reckon that article is effectively the death of the ITVNC, assuming that channel is decided upon to be dropped.
BR
Brekkie
Has anyone heard anything more about Crown Castle planning to add a second new channel to each of it's muxes.

It was first mentioned early summer, soon after E4+1 and Men and Motors arrived, with More4+1 and ITV4 expected to get the slots.

I expect now ITV News will time share with ITV4 for the next few months, but if ITV win the slot on the CC mux and it's functioning by February, by the time "CITV" debuts, ITV News may have a new "24 hr" slot (until the launch of ITV5!).

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