The Newsroom

News At Ten vs. Ten O'Clock News

Vote for your main late news program... (January 2008)

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IT
itsrobert Founding member
themagicmonkey posted:
I did! Although mainly because my housemates are busy in the lounge and our ITV reception is cr*p. What you all forget is that ITV in effect lost the News At Ten brand to the BBC. Most people don't really care that News At Ten was always on ITV, they just have a memory of the name and News At Ten is now on the BBC. The ratings will be interesting but you're presuming the 5 million people who watch the 10 o'clock news each night are as interested in the new-look NaT on ITV as you all are.


I don't go along with that. If you stopped 100 people on the streets of Britain and asked them to which broadcaster they relate the phrase "News at Ten", I would say that the vast majority would say ITN/ITV. It's only the youngsters who've never known a 10pm bulletin on ITV who would say the BBC. Despite axing NAT in 1999, it has not undone the 30 years of ITN News at Ten.
BR
britbat
Am I the only person who thought the BBC's managing to get John Simpson into Zimbabwe for a week was rather more impressive feat than a Hot Stars style interview with someone a dead princess might have married eleven years ago?

On the Ten there were some absolutely priceless shots of Simpson wandering around wearing a baseball cap as his only disguise. Looked like a fish out of water. A naughty part of me wondered whether (following the bhurka incident) he might have blacked up for the assignment. I do hope not.

The NAT titles remind me of Have I Got News For You. And the timpani is just plain wierd. (Anyone who used to listen to BBC R4's Struck Off And Die must have been thinking: "cystiiiiiiiiitis.... cranberry cranberry cranberry").
ST
STV Today
itsrobert posted:
themagicmonkey posted:
I did! Although mainly because my housemates are busy in the lounge and our ITV reception is cr*p. What you all forget is that ITV in effect lost the News At Ten brand to the BBC. Most people don't really care that News At Ten was always on ITV, they just have a memory of the name and News At Ten is now on the BBC. The ratings will be interesting but you're presuming the 5 million people who watch the 10 o'clock news each night are as interested in the new-look NaT on ITV as you all are.


I don't go along with that. If you stopped 100 people on the streets of Britain and asked them to which broadcaster they relate the phrase "News at Ten", I would say that the vast majority would say ITN/ITV. It's only the youngsters who've never known a 10pm bulletin on ITV who would say the BBC. Despite axing NAT in 1999, it has not undone the 30 years of ITN News at Ten.


If you asked them that yeah - but most folk who want to get their diet of news now late at night think BBC and not ITV. I think that while nostalgia comes into it for the older population, the younger folk (who do watch news) will not think ITV now.

If ITV continue to bring us the groundbreaking stories of the day then folk will remain loyal - but most people do not watch news to salivate over titles and to pay homage to a stalwart in British TV journalism. Some younger folk may see it as a sweet antique at the moment.
MA
themagicmonkey
itsrobert posted:
themagicmonkey posted:
I did! Although mainly because my housemates are busy in the lounge and our ITV reception is cr*p. What you all forget is that ITV in effect lost the News At Ten brand to the BBC. Most people don't really care that News At Ten was always on ITV, they just have a memory of the name and News At Ten is now on the BBC. The ratings will be interesting but you're presuming the 5 million people who watch the 10 o'clock news each night are as interested in the new-look NaT on ITV as you all are.


I don't go along with that. If you stopped 100 people on the streets of Britain and asked them to which broadcaster they relate the phrase "News at Ten", I would say that the vast majority would say ITN/ITV. It's only the youngsters who've never known a 10pm bulletin on ITV who would say the BBC. Despite axing NAT in 1999, it has not undone the 30 years of ITN News at Ten.


I doubt that. Most people watching want to watch a late news bulletin and then head off to bed - that was the niche ITV had compared to the BBC's 6 O'clock news - when you got home from work. After all this time the late news slot at 10 is now the BBC's. If people thought about it they'd probably recall that ITV showed NAT. That doesn't really reflect what they might do today. In one of the Harry Potters, when the Dursleys have an important dinner at their house, Rowling just has Vernon hoping to have the deal done by News At Ten, ie just before bedtime. My guess, itsrobert, if you really did your odd little survey of the public, is that 99% of the population would know they can see the news at 10 o'clock but wouldn't have a clue if it was the 10 o'clock news or News At Ten.

And what you fail to notice is that the BBC has been explicitly banned from Zimbabwe, whilst ITN has actually been invited in on occasions by the Mugabe government just to rub it in to the BBC.

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