ITV wants to axe some regional news services

It's a difficult amalgamated region to name when you think about. It can neither be ITV North East or North West, it is 'North' but not in the traditional broadcasting sense (ie everything north from Yorkshire/Manchester). The only other option is 'North East and Cumbria' but that wouldn't be ideal as Border broadcast to the South of Scotland which isn't exactly 'Cumbria'.

Discount all of the above options and what's left? I'm not sure how viewers in the current ITV West region feel about being in an area branded ITV South West but at least their new region is on the same coast which makes renaming it slightly easier.

That's my two pence anyway.

ITV South West will be fine. We currently have signs up in Bristol's Broadmead stating it's the South West's Shopping centre of choice.

People here tend to use 'south west' rather than west as their region when talking about where thery live as well as West Country of course, that gets uses quite a lot as well. South west is often mentioned on the news.

For Somerset and Bristol South West is fine - not so sure about Gloucestershire though.

Would have been nice if they kept Westcountry in my opinion, sounds warmer.

Pah! Bristol isn't in the South West, it's Oop North (and in the Far East)!

Seriously though, when I was a kid we lived for a few years in West Yorkshire but would travel back down here to South Devon for holidays. Tewkesbury - the northern limit of this new 'region' - marked the half-way point on our journey. For people living in, say, St. Just, that can't be far off being half-way to Sunderland!

and of course, its only "north" in england, its south in scotland. north in scotland means grampian

I imagine rather than selecting existing staff for the job everyone is having to apply for the "new" roles, which is unfortunately quite a common practice in these situations.

The camera roles are contract and so must go out to tender. The staff camera roles have been filled (in most regions at least).

Tyne Tees bans leaving presents, Christmas parties and on-screen goodbyes:
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=42668&c=1

There goes any hope of a 50th birthday bash then.

How ridiculous to think that viewers will not notice any changes! Does she think all their viewers are extremely thick?!?

I think - to be fair - she is trying to manage an impossible situation. She is right that the audience don't want continuous on-screen goodbyes, and the scale of the redundancies mean that continuous office collections can become quite a burden for some. (Not everyone who works in telly is minted - and if you are expected to put in a pound or two for everyone who leaves - that could be a LOT of money...)

Her method of communicating and style/tone are far from great - but I can understand her reasons.

However - for ITV News to not fund Christmas celebrations - the year that they sack so many people - is a very misguided decision. Far better to go out with a bang.

Although the new region is ITV South West, the new news programme is proposed to be called 'The West Country Tonight'

What will be interesting is whether the viewers will notice a deterioration in service with two-thirds of the staff gone.
As ITV has always been grossly over-staffed I suspect not.
Which is why ITV is right to press ahead with the rationalisation - it makes sounds financial sense and ultimately that is what will determine the future of the ITV brand.