ITV News Strike

With the future of the ITV News Channel looking bleak, it raises the possibility of a strike in the near future.

I know there has been a couple of BBC News strikes over recent years, with them coping by using non-union staff and relying on a mixture of pre-recorded output and basic 30 minute bulletins, but has there been a strike in recents years affecting ITV News output?


Not so long ago there was the threat of a wide scale strike at ITV, but they said the national news from ITN would be unaffected - but now with most regions under the ITV banner, and the National and Regional news linked as part of the ITV News Group, a possible strike could see no news at all on ITV!


What would be the contingency plans if the ITV News operation went on strike, and could a strike at ITV News affect Channel 4 News?

Er...without being too blunt the contingency plan for the ITVNC has already been leaked.

If they go on strike, they'll just shut it all down. It's going to happen anyway- it's inevitable.

You can't run a 24 hour (or even 16 hour as they seem to do) news channel on £3.5m/year. Shutting down now will only avoid the embarassment of slipping firmly down into 4th place (behind Fox news) and the down into 5th by early next year (behind AJI).

I was with you up until that bit. I don't know quite how it break this to you but Fox will never be 4th, 40th Maybe but 4th...

FOX News beating ITV News in UK

You have to also consider that News 24 and Sky both spend more than ITV NC's annual budget EVERY month.

ITV is only about profits and so the News Channel is dead as a dodo.

AJI will spend similar amounts to both the BBC and Sky, and (as pointed out above with the Fox stats), if the ITVNC somehow survives I would expect it to become the 5th most popular news channel in the UK.

erm, I don't know if I've missed something but the last time I looked the ITV News Channel was still broadcasting for most of the day on Freeview. It is available on cable as well.

Until the time comes when it isn't you can hardly exclude that platform and cable, so therefore Fox News is not beating the ITV News Channel at all. Very tabloid reporting by Digital Spy

Andrew wrote...

"...erm, I don't know if I've missed something but the last time I looked the ITV News Channel was still broadcasting for most of the day on Freeview. It is available on cable as well."

What you haven't read is a little line in that article which says...

"...Amongst all multichannel homes, FOX was ahead on October 24, November 3 and November 8, despite only being available on satellite.

When a US 24 hour news channel can top a UK one, in the UK, that is a bad sign.

So because Fox beat ITV News for 3 days, we should start to panic - i dont think so

Didn't ITV News beat Sky News at one point recently,

Therefore maybe Sky should close down!

I can't believe ITV only give it £3.5 Million to run on, granted they use most of the ITN resources produced for ITV News (on ITV1) which they're paying about £35 Million for, plus they also get access to the ITV Regions, including SMG and UTV, which probably is cheaper for material.

But surely the channel is making more than £3.5 Million in ad-revenue? Granted it's not bringing in the ratings and the high priced ad breaks, the amount of breaks it does take surely it makes money (not much) from there?

ITV should accept the fact that ITV News is running at a loss, as well as Sky News. What's £3.5Million out of ITV's £200 Million profit from it's first year in trading, nothing. If it was bringing down the financial performance of ITV plc, then fair enough, but it isn't.

I can't see any form of Industrial action taking place, ITV News Channel only employs 25 people, who would be likely take jobs in other parts of ITV News or other broadcasters.

Most of the day? No...half of the day of which only about 6 hours of programming is live. Hardly a first class effort is it?

I think it would be a crying shame for the ITV News Channel to close down - considering they now feed it on IRN Channel 2 so comes in very useful for grabbing your own audio when the duty editor decides the only new cut you need for 5 o'clock is 5 cuts for I'm A Celebrity.

Though IRN have already decided to outsource the clips they use for sports to Sky Sports News (I feel dirty having to read "Speaking to Sky Sports News..." every third sports story...) - so who knows maybe it could be a first and we'll have an IRN-Sky merger. If that happens then sod the ITV News Channel.

a shame if they close down. Despite operating with one hand tied behind their back, they were beginning to build a bit of a reputation post-Iraq war and their coverage of breaking news events was/is as good as Sky and N24.