ITV wants to axe some regional news services

what about ITV local?

alot more people are using the internet for local news?

what about it? the number of people using the internet for local news may be increasing - but the audience for quality regional news on television is not in decline - as proved by the bbc.

itv is in a privileged position as a broadcaster as reiterated again and again in this thread, which is why many argue that a meaningful regional news service should continue.

oh and do you think that 'itv south west local' covering an area from cheltenham to the isles of scilly or 'itv north local' covering from stranraer in scotland to york will be particularly popular internet services? seeing as itv local piggybacks almost exclusively off the back of material gathered for the tv broadcasts, any reduction in local-ness for the tv broadcasts will filter through to the online presence.

Hmmm. Interesting.

With that being the case, this could be the last golden opportunity for local businessmen in the affected areas (come on John Hall -- we all know what you said when YTV bought TTTV in the first place!!) to bid for the re-advertised areas.

Get a few areas out of Granada's grubby mits, and we might get somewhere...

I can't play the reports anyway!

Even Branson wouldn't be daft enough to bid for a new Channel 3 regional licence at this stage. He's got his TV foothold anyway. I'm sure post-DSO he will make a play for ITV/SMG/UTV as a whole.

I'd have thought that, if cheap enough, a small ITV franchise would still be a meal ticket quite honestly. You'd only have to give a nod and a wink to regionality (and STILL be doing better than ITV are now!), and programming is guaranteed.

An area like the SW or NE/Cumbria would be a cheap franchise to buy.

The main reason most of the companies merged in the first place was the crippling auction fees. ITV wouldn't be bidding too high so it would be possible to sneak in with a trifling amount.

It's not going to happen though as you say.

I know STV would not go for it!

ITV may decide to go for it but STV would not risk it, there stand to lose a far more than what there could gain.

how many people actully live in the Borders tv area?

really? i put it to you that you THINK they would not

STV, or rather the Scottish Media Group, actually made a takeover bid for Border. But it was declined. Next thing you know they agree to be taken over by Granada and the rest, as they say, is history. Just like Border TV will be within a few months, or a year or two at the most. They signed their own death warrant when they agreed the merger deal. BTW, around 750,000 people live in Border's franchise area, with around 250,000 of that total in the Scottish part, effectively exiles, in ITV terms, in their own country!

Border and Tyne Tees to be placed under single management:
http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=581083

That bit of the article shows that ITV are anticipating/intending it being the whole of Tyne Tees + Border merging (rather than Manx & S Scot going to Granada and STV, respectively).

Whilst the two-way split for the more "newsy" part of the 6pm programme will make things better than they'd otherwise be, the "fluffier" latter half of the programme will still seem odd to viewers, covering such a huge area. And - much more importantly - seeings as short bulletins will presumably not have the two-way split, it really will be an inadequate news service.

Also, the actual "Lookaround" name will clearly go, as the new programme will surely have to have a single name that mentions neither "North East/Tyne Tees" nor "Border/Lookaround". (In the same way that neither the "Central" nor "Meridian" names survived into the new Thames Valley region)

Sod knows what they could call it though. Something like "ITV North News" would surely alienate Scottish viewers, as they live in the south of their country. Similarly, as the Isle of Man is a stand-alone place in its own right, it is not a "north" (nor south, west, or east!) "portion" of anything larger - it's a whole! (That said, I'd imagine that Manx people probably accept that - for the sake of practicality - it's okay to be grouped in with "North (West) England", to keep things simple).

I really don't see any way that ITV can form a "Tyne Tees + Border" region without seriously p*ssing off some/all Border viewers. (I expect that, as the merged programme will presumably be Gateshead-based, it will have a Tyne Tees bias, hence Tyne Tees viewers will not have any cause to feel p*ssed off).

So they could call it Lookaround then.