ITV News Channel
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| ITV News Channel | |
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| Launched | August 1, 2000 |
| Closed | December 23, 2005 |
| Owned by | ITV plc |
| Audience share | 0.1% (Final figures from Dec '05, Source:[1]) |
| Formerly called | ITN News Channel (until September, 2002) |
| Website | www.itv.com/news |
The ITV News Channel was a 24 hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 2000 to 2005. It was available on Sky Digital, Telewest Broadband, NTL, Freeview (latterly only between 6am and 6pm) and Analogue Cable presenting the latest national and international news stories plus regular business, sport, entertainment and weather summaries. Priority was usually given to the latest breaking news stories. There was also an added focus on UK stories, by drawing on the resources of the ITV network's regional newsrooms.
The channel launched on 1 August 2000 as a joint venture between ITN and NTL as the "ITN News Channel". In June 2002, Carlton Television and Granada Television - the predecessors of ITV plc - bought out ITN's 65 per cent stake. This led to a rebrand as the ITV News Channel in September 2002. In April 2004, the newly created ITV plc bought NTL's 35 per cent stake to assume full control of the channel.
As the ITN News Channel, the channel was broadcast from a small studio with accommodation for only one presenter at a time. When relaunched as the ITV News Channel, they initially used the standard ITV News studio of the time, which was built for fixed length bulletins only so the style of presentation was always much more basic than that of its competitors
From February 2004, the channel came into its own and relaunched. Along with the rest of ITV News, the channel was presented from the so-called 'theatre of news' set (below, left), with logo above, which is a vast virtual studio. The studio allowed presentation from either behind a desk or from presenters walking around the studio, using the newswall to fully explain a story with the use of graphics. For the first time 2 presenters could present the channel together which lead to a much improved service.
Due to the channel sharing facilities with ITV News bulletins on ITV1 (which were also simulcast on the news channel), the channel had to move to other studios for around an hour before each ITV1 bulletin to allow for rehersals. Initially a single locked off camera studio was used at these times which was very basic. Later the channel used a virtual reality studio at these times or following ITN's takeover of the production of London Tonight, that studio
News content and programming for the channel was provided by ITN.
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[edit] Presenters
During the period as the ITN News Channel its pool of presenters were from across the ITN programme portfolio of ITV, Channel 4 and Five News along with occasional freelancers. Its presenters were John Suchet, Leyla Daybelge, Alison Bell, Andrew Harvey, Sharon Grey, Owen Thomas, Kirsty Lang, Simon Vigar, Lloyd Bracey, Sasha Herriman, Rachel McTavish along with others
When the channel became the ITV News Channel, presenters from ITV News on ITV1 began presenting on the news channel. For the first month or so before any regular appearances occurred many reporters also presented on the News Channel including Ros Childs who presented after John Suchet on the first day as the ITV News Channel. During the Iraq war the well-known British newscaster Angela Rippon presented on the channel and then went on to host a regular weekend programme in 2004 and 2005.
Following the February 2004 relaunch, presenters included ITN veteran Alastair Stewart who hosted the flagship Live with Alastair Stewart programme every weekday morning. Other presenters included Andrew Harvey, Lucy Alexander, Leyla Daybelge, Chris Rogers, Phil Gayle, Owen Thomas, and Sasha Herriman. All of ITV News on ITV1's presenters, except Trevor McDonald, also appeared on the channel. Presenters from ITV's regional news programmes and freelancers regularly appeared on the channel at weekends and holiday periods.
In December 2005 Scott Chisholm - part of the original 1989 Sky News team - joined the channel to present the breakfast programme.
[edit] Competition
The channel's main competitors were Sky News and BBC News 24.
At times of breaking UK news of major Australian importance (such as terrorist attacks), the channel was sometimes relayed by Australia's Nine Network. However, the Nine Network usually preferred the Sky News feed which it had equal access to.
[edit] Closure
In December 2005, it was confirmed that the channel would close down in 2006, to use its Freeview bandwidth (which was already timeshared with ITV4) to launch a children's channel based on the existing CITV brand, and to use its funding to boost ITV1 news coverage.
The closure was subsequently brought forward and the channel closed down on Friday 23 December 2005 at 18:00 (GMT). The reason given was that it would have been unfair to expect the channel's staff to work long hours over Christmas knowing that the channel would soon be closing.
The schedule for the last day of transmission on the ITV News Channel:
- 0700 The Scott Chisholm Show
- 1000 Live with Alastair Stewart
- 1145 The Scott Chisholm Show
- 1230 ITV Lunchtime News simulcast
- 1330 Live with Faye Barker
- 1500 Live with Nicholas Owen and Nina Hossain
- 1600 Live with Owen Thomas and Faye Barker
- 1730 SPECIAL: 5 Years Of The News Channel presented by Alastair Stewart.
[edit] References
- Wilkes, Neil. "ITV confirms news channel axe", Digital Spy, 14 December, 2005.
- "ITV's News Channel to close down", BBC News, 14 December, 2005.
- Downes, Steven. "ITV's News Channel axed", The Times, 14 December, 2005.
- Deans, Jason. "ITV News Channel to close before Christmas", Media Guardian, 19 December, 2005.
- "ITV News Channel to close early", BBC News, 19 December, 2005.
[edit] External links
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