ITV News Channel - now 24 hours on DTT

It's a year today since the ITN News Channel became the ITV News Channel

I'm sure that some here said it would never last a year!

Anyway, I think it's quite clear that the channel has come on a long way in the last year. Obviously the war in Iraq was a big test, and I think the consensus is that it did well given the lack of resources.

Any highlights from the first year?

Any predictions for how the channel will develop in the next twelve months?

BTW, I notice that TV Ark now has the very first ITV NC bulletin:
www.arkspace.unlimited-hosting.co.uk/itnnewschannela.html

For some reason the ITV News Channel are showing a programme rather than the normal rolling news-type programme.

They are showing an episode of Real Life from 20:00 - 20:30 complete with a strong images announcement from the posh presenter on there and the opening titles also included an ITV-style 'Subtitles' logo.

They should have left it as the ITN Channel so that they could use newsreaders from ITV,C4 and C5.

Don’t be silly. Why would Carlton and Granada buy into it and then keep it ITN news Channel. Should the ITV lunchtime news be the ITN Lunchtime News? No, not if Carlton and Granada have something to do with it! Also by calling it the ITV news channel, ITV can shout out that they have 3 channels and not just 1. I'm sure some people out there still think ITV is one channel and that’s it. Mention ITV2 and they will be "Oh, how do I tune that in on channel 6 of my TV".

ITV News Channel has come a long way in this year. I do think its getting better. One way maybe in the future could be to take away the rolling news aspect and just have it a News and Documentaries channel. Say have news bulletins 2 hours long, then lots of ITV Documentaries followed be the same news as on ITV1, then lets say it continues for another hour on the channel so viewers can turnover for more in-depth news, then back to more factual programs. It could still do some rolling news, maybe six hours non-stop then followed by programs, but by taking it away from 24 hours of news, it could change the channel for the future. I suppose if it were changed like this it would be more like an ITV3 channel, but not using that name. They don’t wont to go down the BBC’s road of just using numbers, its silly. For example MTV never went down that road and called Hits, Base, MTV 3 and 4.I think a channels name sounds better with words instead of a LONG list of numbers.

I think they they are constantly evolving the channel, and generally for the better. It is now a rolling news channel, as opposed to the old style where it just ran the same bulletins every thirty minutes. They also have stopped the little 'presenter handover' just before TOTH.
A few changes I think would improve things:

Make use of the big screen by standing in front of it now and again like they do on ITV1 News.

They should also get a few more reporters out and about, as a lot of stories are just voiced over by people at ITN, it would be nice to see more faces and to be where the news is.

Perhaps using dual anchoring at main times, or at least puttting the presenters in some sort of pattern, so you know when your favourite presenter is on.

That's the main reason why they bought it. 2002 was, in PR terms, the worst year in ITV's history. They were desperate for it to be seen to be ending on a high note. The purchase of a failing channel and subsequently rebranding it under the ITV banner so they can be seen to have started a new channel that year (and a news channel at least carries a measure of respect with it) was quite predictable.

The ITV News Channel is currently broadcasting on Freeview - and it's 8.08 in the morning.

The EPG says "You're watching the ITV News Channel - now 24 hours a day on DTT, Digital Terrestrial Television"

Nitpicking I know, but it's rather a case of 'once again 24 hours on DTT - it did briefly go 24 hours after launch when it was still on SDN. Anyway, it's got 24 hours just after GMTV made that nice slide promoting their services I see;)

Really, it's about time. GMTV are never going to use that space for anything. I don't know why it's taking this long to come to an arrangement.

It's certainly improved more than I ever expected it would! Are you a fan of the ITV News channel now, cwathen? I know you weren't too keen on it at the beginning.

I have to admit, it's doing better than I expected (although why it still plods on with the 1999 graphics when on ITV they have been replaced them with newer, less tacky edits I don't know) but I wouldn't really call myself a fan. It still however has a long way to go imo.

News channels badly need two presenters - if there isn't anything major happening then the presenter is just going to trot out the same news over and over again. It's made much less dry if they have someone else to talk to. ITV News channel however is still largely single presenter.

They need to run overnight instead of running News at Ten over and over again - the other channels manage it.

ITV needs to make better use of the channel themselves. It might get promotion on all the news bulletins, but nevertheless it's still too remote from ITV. They don't make nearly enough simulcasts of it (they should find time for some sort of overnight simulcast every night imho), it doesn't get enough general promotion, and despite having a bigger budget than it did before being bought out, it's still run on too much of a shoestring. The only time they really pulled out the stops and made use of it was during the Iraq war. The BBC on the other hand have been making News 24 a part of BBC1 and BBC2 since day 1 and whatever opinions people have about the channel it's got far more exposure as a result. I'd venture to say that pretty much everyone who watches TV has seen News 24 in some form by now, I doubt the same came be said about the ITVNC.

ITN are doing as well as they can with the budget they have, but I still don't believe that it's any serious competition for Sky News, and if ITV ever want it to be they are going to have to treat it with more importance.