News at Ten - Weeknights on ITV1

Well back then, it was only at 10pm 3 nights a week, and because the number of nights per week were an average over the year, some weeks it would be as low as 1 night per week.

I can't see the ratings being any lower than they are at 10.30, assuming nobody actually watches both, all 10.30 viewers will watch the News at Ten, plus they will pick up some of the BBC's 10pm viewers

This data would be funny if it was a poll on itv.com

A couple of things...


Firstly, not picked up here but it wasn't unnoticed by the press how the story has been leaked a few days after ITV got some very bad publicity.


Secondly though - and my bigger concern - is if ITV are forking out to lure Sir Trevor back and outbid Sky for Julie Etchingham, will there be any investment in the programme content itself.


P.S. The Mirror I think claims reporters will be signing off "News at Ten" once again, rather than "ITV News".



Looking at the archive on Digital Spy it's ridiculous how ITV were dictated too over when to schedule their news. The ITC stated it was not their position to tell channels how to schedule programming - and then got a legal injunction out forcing them to reinstate News at Ten the first time around due to a decline in ratings.

Very amusing Brekkie..so they leaked it "a few days after bad news"....by leaking it to exquisite burden who got about 5 ignorant, patronising replies on this website, all treating it with 'a pinch of salt'?

Would they really leak it to 'some idiot'?

They'd have plastered it all over Fleet Street.

Sometimes though, Fleet St has to wait a few days before it catches up with TVF and its more intelligent and trustworthy members

The Mirror really hit the mark with 'bringing back the bongs' - The News at Ten is going to be presented next to the Big Ben inside the clock tower - The Queen will manually bong the bell after each headline and Julie is going to be perched on the end of the minute hand.

The absolute key thing is ITV must commit to showing it 5 nights a week at 10 o'clock on the dot. When they brought it back last time, even on nights when it was supposed to be on at 10, it wasn't. It would start at 10.04 or 10.07 or somesuch - not 10.00 sharp.

I saw audience figures in detail at the time and there was a very noticeable spike at 10 o'clock - people would turn over for the News, see instead the tail end of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and turn over to BBC1.

I remember an ITN employee telling me that the only time ITN had really gone head-to-head with the Beeb was when both channels had their lunchtime bulletins at 1 o'clock. And ITN used to wipe the floor with the BBC. It's a different world now, and ITN's resources are nowhere near what they used to be - but sheer dynamism, chutzpah and brio could make a world of difference. And with big cuts coming at the Beeb - it could be a real battle at 10pm.

The Metro (where I first read it early this morning) had it as 'Sir Trev's Back With a Bong'.

Good point, and one I don't think any of us had thought of. We've all been assuming that ITV would be going up against the BBC in its current form. However, as we all know, there are going to be major cutbacks at BBC News, so ITV's opposition will be severely weakened. If BBC One and News 24 are merging, there has to be an impact on output quality - they surely can't cut back that much and still maintain as high a standard as now? This could certainly pave the way to ITV dominating again. I suppose only 2008 will tell. One thing is certain, though: it will be an interesting year in terms of broadcasting.

To be fair though certainly in the nineties the old News at Ten rarely started on time either - often beginning a few minutes after 10pm and every Wednesday pushed back to after 10.15pm due to the Champions League.




Well, the bongs never really went anywhere - but if ITV are serious about News at Ten, do you think they should get the bongs exclusively again, or should they be kept across all ITV News programming?

True, but they manage to start the 6.30 news and 10.30 news on time, at least most of the time.

Am I the only one who's beginning to seriously wonder whether or not this story is true... or a piece of pure newspaper speculation.

The story was "broken" on the Mediaguardian website on Monday afternoon. But there wasn't a word about it in The Guardian itself yesterday - even though The Guardian is normally the best of the quality newspapers for media stories.

However it made the front page of The Mirror which claimed it as an exclusive.

All the other coverage - for instance on the BBC website - is clearly speculative. ITV has merely refused to confirm or deny the story, describing it as speculation.

I find it hard to believe that ITV wouldn't have confirmed the story by now if it was true - even if they'd been planning a proper announcement later. You can just see the picture of Michael Grade and Trevor standing outside Grays Inn Road celebrating.

Of course, the tale is strangely like a posting on this very forum last week. Now far be it from me to suggest that some newspaper journalists believe everything they read on the Internet but look at how the story about Ronnie Hazlehurst co-writing Reach for the Stars got around... because some silly hack didn't question Wikepedia.

If we don't hear one way or the other soon from ITV, it's fair to assume the tale is either unfounded, premature or speculative. Although that's not to say that ITV weren't putting the story around themselves - off the record, of course - to check likely reaction....