UTV sell TV business to ITV

I see there are highlights of tonight's World Cup qualifiers on ITV. Northern Ireland highlights have been on BBC NI for as long as I can remember. But tonight they are on ITV. I presume there is no opt-out for UTV, however, so I imagine coverage of Germany vs NI will be minimal, and at the end. Much worse coverage than in the past as the BBC would have had a dedicated (albeit local) show.

Yes I do. Of course it would affect ITV's profit as one large company, but in the same way there's regulation in every industry, profits would still be made.

Are you really saying that for a country with a population of 70 million and counting, another London based broadcaster reflects the country it serves? I would argue that the media we have today is part of the reason that the country is so divided. Certainly where Scotland is concerned.

Some of the best programmes I can remember were from the 90s, so it wasn't all bad.

Steering back towards discussion of UTV... I've just noticed the sponsor sting before the World Cup Qualifier Highlights programme (a programme which features matches played by England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the RoI).

"Screwfix... sponsors UTV's coverage of ENGLAND football."

Are Screwfix unaware that the programme isn't just about England?
Are they unaware that they have branches elsewhere in the UK?
Or do they just not care how crass that comes across?

The Screwfix sponsor used to state that as well on STV, but now it's just "sponsors this match on STV", even on the highlights programme.

I'm not surprised. Both STV and Screwfix were mocked on Twitter for that strapline a few weeks ago.

It's incredibly poor marketing. The message may as well say:

"Hey fans of the Northern Ireland football team... come and shop in Screwfix... the DIY store that doesn't give a toss about you because you're not English".

You should tweet them about it. It worked for STV viewers by the sounds of it.

This reminded me to check STV's Twitter feed, which I normally do when England are on STV, and see that they're getting flooded with complaints again.

Mars made a similar cock up during the Euros this year - all its point of sale proudly boasted their support of the England football team. I've never seen so many Mars bars left on the shelves in Cardiff.

This all kind of fits in with the discussion above, regarding the problems created by so much of the media being London/England-centric.

I see this kind of ignorance/incompetence by people based in London day-in day-out. It's really very depressing.

It kind of highlights the points that I made earlier in this thread when hundreds of people complain to STV about its schedule from the network.

But in terms of ITV, things have improved drastically I think. I've been perfectly happy with Wales' coverage of the Euros, Rugby World Cup and the Election.

I think/hope the days of this idiocy are behind us:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4711544042_c18dc481e8.jpg

I think tonight proves that idiocy is still there, unfortunately.

It was bad enough last Christmas on UTV, where all the network programmes were sponsored by a furniture store that has no branches in NI... and a website that stated they didn't deliver to NI either. Yet the script on the sting was "...sponsors Christmas on UTV"!