ITV wants to axe some regional news services

Do you have to lace all your posts with stereotypical insults to all and sundry? Like everywhere, there are good people and bad people in Carlisle and I think most would be pretty insulted by your description. If you've a point to make about the quality of local news please can you do it without insulting people, its so un-necessary.

Strike threat:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2168678,00.html

Not surprising, really. I don't think anyone could blame them. It's not as if they have been under-performing to such a great extent (I seem to recall someone here saying the BBC regions beat the ITV ones in the ratings, but there must be fluctuations across the country). They're effectively losing their jobs for the sake of it.

The amazing thing is that the Plympton team, who have been OVER-performing, if anything, appear to be loosing out to the totally UNDER-performing people (the word "team" is too much of a compliment) in bloomin' Bristol.

Interesting story from the Oxford Mail:
http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.1688138.0.itv_may_axe_abingdon_base.php


I rather suspect that the outcome of this in the medium term will be a compromise with more programmes presented from outside the region - eg they will be seen to bow to pressure and keep Lookaround as a separate programme, but presented from one of the Gateshead studios freed up by putting out a single programme in Tyne Tees.

And maybe a similar arrangement in Bristol with a separate 6pm programme for the Westcountry region.

Derby Evening Telegraph

Like have said before like the STV model

Nick, wasn't it you who stated a few years back that you thought eventually all regional programmes would come from the South Bank?

To be honest, the way things are going people in some areas are not going to care if that does happen. Why should someone in Whitehaven care whether his non-local local news comes from Gateshead or London?

I fear your prediction will one day come true.

The point I'm making is that audience figures for local news do not justify the time slots and the money spent on them when,quite clearly,most people are getting their news from other sources these days.
But let's be honest about your other point - I can't think of a single interesting thing that I've ever heard about Carlisle.
In fact I can't remember a single boring thing I've ever heard about Carlisle
It's so dull that local people take a flask of tea and some sandwiches to sit in the street and watch traffic lights change.
An all-night cigarette machine is what passes for erotica in Carlisle.Culture in Carlisle is what grows on shower curtains.
So how it can justify a full nightly news programme is beyond me.

There are a few anomalies - but for the last couple of years nearly every ITV regional news programme has been losing out to its nearest equivalent BBC regional news programme in absolute ratings terms. Some regions are closer fought than others, and in a couple ITV still manages to beat the BBC.

However the situation has been almost totally reversed from that of the mid-90s when ITV reigned in almost every patch.

In combined ratings terms ISTR that BBC 1830-1900 is the UKs most watched news programme slot - usually beating all ITV and BBC Networked bulletins and the ITV 1800-1830 regional slot. This doesn't show up on the normal BARB top rated shows because the 1800-1830 ITV and 1830-1900 BBC ratings are split between their separate programmes and not combined into a single "BBC One" / "ITV1" published figure, though the 15 minute figures on the overnights usually confirm this.

If the 1830-1900 BBC regional news slot figures were combined into a single figure all 5 editions would usually appear in the top rated shows.

Yep - if you treat each show individually that is certainly true. However if you combine the figures to create a single "network" rating the BBC 1830-1900 slot rates incredibly highly - on some days it is the highest rated slot there is in absolute "audience watching BBC One" terms - and it usually rates perfectly acceptably... Except that it costs a LOT more than making a single programme - however low cost each edition is.

Whether it is a good investment in maximising "eyeballs watching your channel" terms is up to debate. If you ditch it though, you'll have fewer people watching your channel. Regional news DOES rate - but whether the cost per viewer justifies it?

(Of course if you talk share not audience figures - then the BBC One O'Clock News is the most successful show - it usually gets an incredibly high share)

I wouldn't bother noggin -- this is the guy who, when confronted with the unfortunate fact that in some areas of the country the local news gets ridiculously high audience figures, responds by launching an unprovoked attack on the people of that area.