UTV - From City Quays 2 onwards

It's not so much about requiring a separate person. ITV is being run using minimal staff at the moment, which means anything that makes the job less complicated is welcome.

Has advertising on UTV and across the network been similarly simplified. Not just less staff but with less to advertise at the moment I'd have thought they'd keep regional advertising to a minimum, but with so much having the disclaimer "except NI" that might be easier said than done for NI.

Is there a particular reason why local UTV programmes don’t go on to ITV Hub but appear on www.itv.com/utvprogrammes instead? Is this the same in other regions too?

Yep (Border)
https://www.itv.com/news/border/topic/representing-border/

They have now changed the ITV+1 DOG on UTV+1, so it's actually the same ITV+1 DOG as other ITV regions and not ITV with a large +1 floating apart from it due to the large size of the UTV logo.

All local programmes are the same. They're uploaded locally to the website from the regional office rather than via the ITV Hub.

I've only just noticed this tonight that the +1 is now that horrid little dot now on UTV+1

This is a concerning move imo. With the previous +1 dog in place, it was ready for the UTV dog when it comes back....

Now looks like ITV...bit by bit trying to wipe out the UTV onscreen branding forever.
I do NOT trust ITV when they claim (fornow anyway) that Julian & Gillian and the local idents will be back as soon as possible. I hope that swimmers ident by Gillian was not the last ever ident for the UTV as we know it.

If you visit itv.com/utvprogrammes, there is now a small banner that appears at the top which wasn't there before...

Hmm, you'd think they'd have used the UTV logo on that. A sign that the idents won't be back and the logo will be gone in the next news rebrand?

ITV.com/utvprogrammes goes to a blank page with ‘not found’ at present.

And whenever this is over - whatever we define as 'over' - it ain't coming back.

If it's easier this way and cheaper then why return to the unnecessary old way of doing it. By that time everyone will be used to it and no-one will care

Okay.