ITV News Central
| ITV News Central | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Good Morning Central |
| Presented by |
Sameena Ali-Khan Matt Teale Bob Warman (Programme presenters) Balvinder Sidhu (GMB opts newsreader) Genelle Aldred Lucy Kite (Weather presenters) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Liz Hannam (Head of News) |
| Location(s) | Gas Street Studios, Birmingham, West Midlands, England |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes (main 18:00 show) |
| Production company(s) | ITV Central |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV and ITV HD |
| Picture format | 16:9, 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original release | 1 January 1982 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | ATV Today |
| Related shows |
ITV News, BBC Midlands Today, BBC East Midlands Today |
| External links | |
| Website | |
ITV News Central is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Central, serving the English Midlands.
History
Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ATV Today, Central News was initially a pan-regional service based in Birmingham airing a 6pm programme on weeknights alongside shorter weekday bulletins after ITN's News at One and News at Ten. During the rest of the decade, the region was eventually broken up into three sub-regions, which would receive their own news service.
Separate services for the West and East of the region were planned to begin from day one - but an industrial dispute over the launch of the East Midlands service - and the opening of new studios in Nottingham - resulted in the entire region continuing to receive a sole pan-regional programme from Birmingham.[1] The launch of the Nottingham-based service was initially delayed for a month,.[2][3] but the dispute was not resolved until September 1983, when the news service for the East was finally introduced. Within a few months, Nottingham operations were moved from a temporary set-up at Giltbrook to Central's new complex at nearby Lenton Lane.[4]
On Monday 9 January 1989, a separate South Midlands service for Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire and Swindon was launched from a new computerised news centre in Abingdon.[5] Thereafter, the Birmingham edition covered solely the West Midlands region (Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands and Worcestershire).[6]
Originally, the main weekday evening programme did not have a different title from other bulletins. This finally changed in the late 1990s, when the title Central News at Six was adopted – coinciding with being rescheduled from 6.25pm to 6pm. By Monday 24 July 2006, the 6pm programme had been renamed again, to Central Tonight (except for the South Midlands edition, which retained the Central News at Six name until its final 6pm programme on 1 December 2006). By December 2006, Central News bulletins during GMTV had become pan-regional across all three sub-regions. Weekend bulletins became pan-regional across the West and East Midlands earlier in the year, whilst the South Midlands retained its own weekend bulletins right up until the end of Central News South on 3 December 2006.
December 2006 – February 2009
On 4 December 2006, the South Midlands sub-region was disbanded, as follows:
- The parts of Gloucestershire served by Central South joined the majority of the county already covered by ITV West and receiving The West Tonight broadcast from Bristol.
- Herefordshire was now covered by the West Midlands edition from Birmingham.
- In the rest of the region (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the Swindon area), news operations merged with Meridian West, to form the non-franchise ITV Thames Valley service, broadcasting Thames Valley Today/Tonight from the existing Meridian West studio in Whiteley, Hampshire. The new programme, which also covered Berkshire, Hampshire and parts of Surrey and Wiltshire retained Central's Abingdon newsroom as the main news gathering base for the new region but the studio was closed.
Central News bulletins during GMTV were now pan-regional across the West Midlands and East Midlands only. Meanwhile, in what had now become the ITV Thames Valley region, bulletins during GMTV were pan-regional across the entire combined ITV Meridian and ITV Thames Valley regions (i.e., the entire South and South East of England), and branded as GMTV News. While weekend Meridian News bulletins were pan-regional in the South and South East sub-regions, Thames Valley Today/Tonight continued to produce its own weekend bulletins.
February 2009 – September 2013
As of 23 February 2009, lunchtime and early evening bulletins in the West and East Midlands on weekdays became pan-regional. The final sub-regional 6pm editions of Central Tonight were broadcast on Friday 20 February 2009. Sameena Ali-Khan and Bob Warman were announced as main anchors. Matt Teale rejoined the programme on 2 February 2012 and job shares with Warman.
The previous sub-regional elements were:
- A 6-minute opt-out during the main 6pm programme
- Localised weather forecast during the 6pm programme
- The full 8-minute late weeknight bulletins
Both sub-regional editions utilise the same presenter(s) and studio, therefore one of the two opt-outs (depending on the days news) is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before broadcast.[7]
On Monday 14 January 2013, the news service was relaunched and rebranded as ITV News Central.[8]
September 2013 – present
On 23 July 2013, proposals for a more localised Channel 3 news service were approved - latterly, ITV News Central extended the East and West opt-out services from 6 minutes to 20 minutes during the half hour 6pm programme, in addition to separate lunchtime and weekend bulletins for the two sub-regions. The late night bulletins are also retained.[9]
In the former Thames Valley region, plans were approved for a 10-minute opt out within the 6pm edition of ITV News Meridian for the south of England and a late night bulletin after News at Ten. The expanded sub-regional service launched on Monday 16 September 2013.
Broadcast times
ITV News Central airs on ITV Central seven days a week. On weekday mornings, Good Morning Central airs short bulletins within Good Morning Britain at approximately 6.05am, 7.05am and 8.05am. On weekday afternoons, a four-minute lunchtime bulletin airs at 1.55pm, followed by the main half-hour programme at 6pm and an eight-minute late bulletin at 10.30pm following ITV News at Ten.
Sub-regional bulletins for the East and West areas consist of the first 20 minutes of the 6pm programme on weekdays and all shorter bulletins.
At weekends, two 6 and a half minute editions of ITV News Central are broadcast - one later on Saturday afternoons and another on Sunday evenings.
Main presenters
- Sameena Ali-Khan (Monday - Fridays)
- Steve Clamp (Sport / relief presenter)
- Lucy Kite (Weather / relief presenter)
- Matt Teale (Thursday / Friday)
- Bob Warman (Monday - Wednesday)
References
- ↑ TV firm's launch disrupted by dispute. By Kenneth Gosling. The Times, Saturday, 2 Jan 1982; pg. 3
- ↑ TV launch delayed again. From Arthur Osman. The Times, Thursday, 11 Feb 1982; pg. 2.
- ↑ Television dispute 'may take months to resolve'.From Arthur Osman. The Times, Wednesday, 24 Feb 1982; pg. 3
- ↑ http://www.transdiffusion.org/tv/studioone/a_trip_to_giltb Note at the bottom of the page
- ↑ Central News South first edition, 9 January 1989
- ↑ Final Central News West before launch of Central News South, 6 January 1989
- ↑ Seventeen regions into nine: How the updated ITV local news services will run Caitlin Fitzsimmons, The Guardian, 17 February 2009
- ↑ ITV launches rebrand on air and online, itv.com, 14 January 2012
- ↑ OFCOM sets out licence terms for ITV, STV, UTV and Channel 5, OFCOM, 23 July 2013
External links
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