By the way chaps, just read this thread and I can't help wondering where all those that said Lord Grade was the saviour of UK independant television and was going to save ITV single handed, and was now going to increase the on screen regional/regionality presence on ITV, because his uncle was one of the founding fathers of the network, ect, ect have all gone to with this matter?
Seems to me the words 'Wolf' 'Sheep' and 'Clothing' spring increasingly to mind...
Was just thinking that. Wasn't there a press release when Sir Michael of Grade joined ITV that one of the big things he wanted to do when he joined was to improve regional presence in the ITV network? If so i doubt actually getting rid of some of the regions is going to help that initiative!
Regional TV unfortunately apart from news is on the way out - and I think the majority of viewers dont care as long as they get local news. Regional Digital Stations like Solent TV are not viable in the long term - I wonder how long the Milton Keynes Channel will remain?
It's all down to finances - regional tv provides little growth financially, ITV is better long term to plough its funds into quality programming that can achieve big audiences and large advertising income - regional shows are dead in the water I'm afraid and apart from a small majority does Joe Public care?
Eastenders on a Thursday night at 7.30pm or a canal boat trip on the Trent - I wonder what most viewers will choose.
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So many assumptions. So few facts.
Regional Advertising is ITV's biggest growth area. It makes up 10% of total revenue (which for THE major advert network is pretty impressive)
Local/regional TV advertising in the UK
has the one of the smallest percentages of total ad spend of all major TV markets in the word. Has huge potential for growth.
Local digital station have failed becouse of poor business operations and content NOT becouse the model is flawed..your argument is the equivalent of saying your local shoe shop went bust, nobody wants shoes anymore.
Ofcom research has over 65% of people wanting local /county news on TV - provided it is of good quality.
Local/Regional news may not work for ITV1 anymore (you cant get ratings and reach with just one early peak news show in this day and age) But it can work on Digital satellite (half of all TV viewers) and on the new digital local services ofcom have been looking at (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/psb_review/digital_local/) with the right format and good production values.
As for the ITV shows against eastenders; many perform BETTER in terms of share than the national equivalent in similar 'counter soap' slots. Indead several shows in english regions outperform ITV network primetime shows in their region.
Seems a bit strange that ITV is spending all this money on ITV Local, if the regions are "on the way out" as some commentators have suggested
It's funny how some people have interpreted "simplifying" as "getting rid of". As far as I have seen, there's nothing to suggest that the regionality of ITV is at threat. People always assume the worst, just because it's ITV.
The reason they are not going for the jugular just yet, is because they don't want to upset the staff in the larger stations too early, as they'll be useful for a few more years. But mark my words, they'll be gone as well within the next decade.
I wonder if ITV will be actually be obliged to provide regional news when all the regions have switched over to digital? Do the current regional PSB requirements apply to just the analogue franchises?
It's funny how some people have interpreted "simplifying" as "getting rid of". As far as I have seen, there's nothing to suggest that the regionality of ITV is at threat. People always assume the worst, just because it's ITV.
Guardian posted:
However, Mr Grade indicated that some of the smaller ITV franchises could disappear in a reorganisation of the network's regional structure.
If the Grauniad have it right, this is a clear suggestion that the regionality of ITV is at threat! OK, maybe only the smaller stations for now, but we all know where that tends to lead.
As much as the history of ITV cannot be forgotten, the ITV regions as they currently stand cannot have a place in the current world of multimedia.
We have just had floods in Hull (as you wll know). The best way to find up to date information has been via the web and local radio. The best way to see pictures has been via sites such as you tube etc. Local TV has done a good job in reviewing the days events, both on BBC and ITV but they are becoming far less important that they used to be.
Running a commercially viable local TV station such as some of the smaller ITV stations will surely become impossible in the future and to keep any regional ITV it must be allow to merge into larger regions - the real question that needs to be asked is whether a regional ITV will be necessary at all.
As much as the history of ITV cannot be forgotten, the ITV regions as they currently stand cannot have a place in the current world of multimedia.
We have just had floods in Hull (as you wll know). The best way to find up to date information has been via the web and local radio. The best way to see pictures has been via sites such as you tube etc. Local TV has done a good job in reviewing the days events, both on BBC and ITV but they are becoming far less important that they used to be.
Running a commercially viable local TV station such as some of the smaller ITV stations will surely become impossible in the future and to keep any regional ITV it must be allow to merge into larger regions - the real question that needs to be asked is whether a regional ITV will be necessary at all.
Well no, because ITV have been determined to kill off the regions for sometime, by eroding the quality of regional programming and broacasting to such a point they could then make the ultimate arguement of killing regional TV, well there are already 85% there all ready, they know this by the mid 90s, and started the process of decimating decades of quality regional traditions because they knew they wouldn't survive later on, in fact ITV won't survive anyway!
As much as the history of ITV cannot be forgotten, the ITV regions as they currently stand cannot have a place in the current world of multimedia.
We have just had floods in Hull (as you wll know). The best way to find up to date information has been via the web and local radio. The best way to see pictures has been via sites such as you tube etc. Local TV has done a good job in reviewing the days events, both on BBC and ITV but they are becoming far less important that they used to be.
Running a commercially viable local TV station such as some of the smaller ITV stations will surely become impossible in the future and to keep any regional ITV it must be allow to merge into larger regions - the real question that needs to be asked is whether a regional ITV will be necessary at all.
It's amazing that people think that in the UK.
Throughout most of the rest of the Western world, local TV is big, big business. In the USA they have wall-to-wall local news, getting much higher audiences than the national in many cases. Why? Because the broadcasters take it seriously, and promote it properly.
All the facts confirm that the more regional a programme is, the more popular it is with viewers. Someone in Darlington is probably disinterested in news from Berwick and vice versa, so split-regional news was introduced which increased viewership levels. If you were to, for example, merge YTV and TTTV's news operations, the resulting dilution would ensure that no-one would bother watching at all. If the Berwick man doesn't want to hear about stories in Stockton, he sure as hell won't want to know about happenings in Rotherham!!!
Incidentally, the idea that YouTube is the best way to see pictures of the floodings is absurd. Spending 2 hours sifting through endless unwatchable phone-camera footage, agenda-led pieces by teenage "journalists" and spiels and spiels of copyright violations, interspersed with frostat01's attempts at IVC just to get to 45 seconds of decent footage that will have been picked up by the broadcasters by then anyway isn't my idea of getting information.
