Oh ITV - why art thou so pathetic?

I'm sure that that's exactly why they do it...

The fact that SMG and UTV don't want to play re: ITV1 generic idents, must drive ITV chiefs mad because it's the only major obstacle preventing the generic look from fully working.

So I suppose thay try to mention 'ITV1' in things like the news so that UTV and SMG viewers can't fully escape the network name. Plus of course the fact that it is now the network CHANNEL name (i.e. ITV) - as opposed to the NEWS PROVIDER name (i.e. ITN) that is used in the title of news bulletins.

This means that despite UTV and SMG not being generic in their idents and trailers, ITV1 imagery still infiltrates those regions in some ways. I suppose ITV bosses' thinking is that UTV and SMG will give in to the generic look, because they won't think it's worth trying to keep it away when their attempts to do so will always be less than 100% sucessful.

Here is what I would do to resolve the ITV1 identity crisis :

They should introduce new generic ITV1 idents across all the regions. These idents should have the name ITV1 emblazoned across them in the middle of the screen with pictures of local landmarks and places of recognition to each of the regions in the background. The idents should have a catchy jingle that should be the same across ALL regions.

Centered, at the bottom of the screen should be the name of the region, but not the logo. Having too many logos doesn't work well and just confuses viewers. The names should say 'Yorkshire', 'Scottish', 'Ulster', 'Granada' and the like. The font style should be the same for all the regions. Granada stations & Carlton stations would not be allowed to have different style idents. For network programming all announcements would be for ITV1.

The same idents should be used before regional programming with the ITV1 logo being reduced to the bottom of the screen, and the individual TV companies logo replacing it in the middle. The backgrounds could remain the same. For regional programming the announcements would be something like 'This is ITV1 in Ulster' and the like.

We need some form of consistency to allow the ITV1 brand to become recognisable whilst acknowledging the existence of the regions. I think this would work, but feel free to pick holes in my logic.

I am all for ITV moulding themselves into a fighting force in the battle to win digital viewers but the way they are going about things are awful. The regional buy out, the rebranding of stations, add '1' to their title. They need to get back to basic and tend to poor standard of programmes. Name a decent programme/rating winner on ITV.... Coronation Street.... Emmerdale... hard isn't it.

PS: I also notice that ITV aren't exactly broadcasting 24 hours a day anymore either. ITV Nightscreen is on for over 90 minutes some mornings.

Here is my very wise and possible solution to ITV generic branding:

Take the BBC Local Radio approach. You will never hear any BBC Local Radio news jingle without either the Local Radio theme or symbol in it. It's hard to explain, but its like an echoed ringing sound. Using this idea, every ident should feature a short ITV jingle which is instantly recognisable as the ITV network.

Visually, the general design and implementation of idents should be left to the franchisee. But they should all have a standardised element such as the ITV logo appearing in exactly the same way in exactly the same place regardless of region - just like a kind of template.

I also believe ITV should use the same on-screen typeface (I would recommend the one they use at itv.com for the top menu bar). This would then be used by each broadcaster for promos, menus, captions etc and could be extended over the network for things like news, weather and sport graphics.

We then have a standardised, semi-generic presentation style for the regions but still retain a lot individuality. Simple!