ITV - Cutbacks & Proposed merger

You speak a lot of sense. I should be shocked and outraged, especially after what's happened over the last six months - but I'm not even surprised. The way Michael Grade announced it yesterday though he applied it would remain - just close as a "stand alone business". I was assuming it would be something similar to Film4, which used to exist as a stand alone business but a couple of years back was moved "in house" with C4 - but it's channels and production remained.

An ill thought out move from ITV because ITV Local could have been the key to them dropping regional news on ITV1 in the future, especially with the not to distant opportunity to make the service available On Demand via Cable, and eventually via Project Canvass on Freeview and I believe Sky are looking at IPTV as well.


I guess at best we can expect ITV regional news to turn up on the ITV Player, if they can be bothered. Not the same as picking and choosing what stories you want to watch though.

There's nothing on the itvlocal website to say it's closing on Friday. If ITV have made the decision to close it, have they really considered that people will want regional news, and that they'll have to make other arrangements? ITv should also be looking at making other arrangements before closing it. That's if they haven't already done so.

Absolutely - and in the current media jobs market - many of those currently working for the BBC are likely to have worked for an ITV company at some point...

Newsnight had a very good piece on it last night - I think it's pretty clear Paxman blames Grade.

I actually watched the reports, further to reading the comments about "gloating", and I saw no evidence of that at all.

As has been said, television - in fact, the larger entertainment industry, is quite tight-knit and inter-connected.

No one wants to see these jobs go.

Brilliant story from ITV Calandar News yesterday, taken from the ITV Local Yorkshire website (www.itvlocal.com/yorkshire).

http://player26.narrowstep.tv/nsp-uvl.aspx?player=YOR_News_15&sort=Pos+Asc&uvlt=1&high=1&ifeat=NPTBIZZ#

Bye Bye ITV Yorkshire... So the Royal and Heartbeat HAVE been scrapped. It's official. Such a shame, what are ITV going to do on a Sunday night now... ooh, let me guess, ITV Playalong?!

Don't give them ideas! I reckon we'll get more z-list reality shows filling the slot or something along the 'Surprise Surprise' format perhaps.

If Surprise Surprise come back it would be a change for the better!

I would like to see more gameshows ( GOOD ONES)

Nope, the last remnants of ITV Play are going too.

It's a shame about the circumstances, but Heartbeat was long overdue the axe and I'm surprised The Royal lasted this long to be honest. However, considering ITV keep saying they need to be producing more in-house it's a bit odd to axe the two in-house productions while Wild at Heart, made by an independent producer, remains.

If you say Strike it Lucky I *swear* I'll plotz.

How about Strike It Rich? LOL

on a more serious note though Surprise Surprise would be a welcome return to our screens just as long as its presented in the same manner and way as Cilla did during the 80's and 90's

What is all the talk with regards to local news at the weekends? I can remember right up until the very early 90's that there was no regional news at the weekends. National news was 5 mins at lunchtime (just after Saint & Greavsie on a Saturday and during Weekend World/TV Eye on a Sunday), 10 minutes in the early evening and 15 minutes between 830pm and 9pm (more commonly at 845pm on Sunday's!)

So on Sunday evenings can we expect more foreign drama's in the ilk of Crazy Like a Fox and Scarecrow and Mrs King in the Heartbeat/The Royal slot?

i think the problem is that itv would still manage to ruin it - case in point the krypton factor. they'd probably make the presenter somebody 'trendy' like fern cotton and thus make it unwatchable.