Premium rate phone-in saga: ITV Play Channel Axed

Will the ITV Play slot on Men and Motors at 3-6pm continue?

I guess it depends whether it's worth producing it for just the M+M viewers.

That is the slot though I'm expecting to end up on ITV2 at some point in the not too distant future!

Would it be possible to now turn the channel into a local type channel. I know on Freeview you get local news ect on BBC One and ITV 1, so is it possible to have another channel on Freeview (ITV Play) and make it regional, regional variations.

Call it ITV Local. Each region can have live news during the day, local programmes which have featured on ITV 1. This service could be useful for more regional programming and rolling local news?

Take a look at Media Guardian - Grade saying he doesn't expect ITV to produce any non-news regional programming within a few years - and expecting the regional news to be funded by the government, not ITV's profits.

So I guess no is the answer there then!

The stupidest idea ever. Everyone knows ITV doesn't have a) the budget b) the motivation to produce anything more than their current three nanoseconds of regional programming a week.

Personally, I think ITV 4 should go 24 hours, and ITV Movies goes 6pm-6am

Since profit seems to be the motivation for this change then I would doubt that!

It's nice to hear mention of an ITV Movies channel and the promise of a replacement for ITV2+1 on Freeview "within the year".

AS AN ASIDE:
Something that has struck me this afternoon watching the excellent "Walking with Dinsosaurs" on UKTV History is:
"what have ITV done with their library of programmes"? .
They don't seem to use them to very good effect.
BBC use theirs (OK ad nauseum on BBC THREE sometimes), but they have managed to supply their main PSB channels and most of the UKTV ones quite successfully.

Why not combine ITV4 and Men and Motors, and have that service running 24 hours. If this happens.. have ITV Movies 7pm - 7am, with the CiTV Channel 7am - 7pm.

My personal preference would be for an ITVi interactive stream - especially with the Rugby World Cup coming up in the Autumn.

However, unlike the BBC commercial channels can't afford to have a stream which may not be used for significant amounts of time.


Up until last week the obvious solution to that was to fill the downtime with something like ITV Playalong, or a Quizmania type programming in the evening - but I don't think they'd be going down that route now.


ITV need to sort out their existing channels before launching any more - ITV Movies is the obvious choice, and my preferred choice, but they need to consider the impact it would have on the others, particularly ITV2 who have already suffered from the loss of so much content to ITV4 and only now, nearly 18 months later, is beginning to recover - mainly with big nightly movies.


I just don't see what ITV4 would fill the schedule with during the day - it'll be far easier to stick on a few old movies than introduce a daytime line up for ITV4.



Anyhow, it'll probably end up being ITV Shop anyhow!

Or Speed Auction TV

Last year it was mentioned that men and motors would be striped down and sold with all good programming moving to itv 4 and the possibility of itv movies launching.

Personally I would sell men and motors with all good programming moving to itv 4, then launch of itv 5 which would launch on itv play's bandwith, itv 5 would show movies and life style programming.

I was thinking the same, at least Scott managed 2 weeks!

Also, will all the other play tv channels also follow suit, or will it be a situation where all the lowest quality ones end up continuing as normal

Remember 50% of the profit from any sale of M&M goes to BSkyB - not the preferred option really. Easier to run it into the ground on DSat only - BSkyB might buy out ITV's share that way.

I don't think ITV have a substantial enough stock of "lifestyle" programmes to fill 12 hours a day (unlike BBC). I reckon ITV Movies is the right way to go, even if a part-time stand-alone channel for now.