ITV News Channel
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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 (channel 525), Telewest Broadband (channel 617), NTL (channel 123), and on Freeview (channel 81), (latterly only between 6am and 6pm) 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 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. News content and programming for the channel was provided by ITN.
Image:ITV News Studio.JPG 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.
Presenters included ITN veteran Alastair Stewart. It also featured faces such as Nicholas Owen, Andrew Harvey, Mary Nightingale, Andrea Catherwood, Owen Thomas and James Mates. Presenters from ITV's regional news programmes 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.
The well-known British newscaster Angela Rippon presented on the channel during the Iraq War in 2003 and hosted a regular weekend programme in 2004 and 2005.
Its 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.
In December 2005, it was confirmed that the channel would close down in 2006, to use its Freeview bandwidth (which is 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.
References
- {{cite news
| url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds27293.html | title=ITV confirms news channel axe | publisher=Digital Spy | first=Neil | last=Wilkes | accessdate=2005-12-14 }}
- {{cite news
| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4527932.stm | title=ITV's News Channel to close down | publisher=BBC News | accessdate=2005-12-14 }}
- {{cite news
| url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1670787,00.html | title=ITV News Channel to close before Christmas | publisher=Media Guardian | first=Jason | last=Deans | accessdate=2005-12-19 }}
- {{cite news
| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4542650.stm | title=ITV News Channel to close early | publisher=BBC News | accessdate=2005-12-24 }}
External links
- The ITV News website
- ITV News Channel on ITN's website
- ITV News Channel unofficial website
- TV Newsroom
| ITV British television | Channels |
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Regions
North Scotland: Grampian TV |
Central Scotland: Scottish TV |
Scottish/English Border: Border |
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Breakfast: TV-am, GMTV | Teletext: ORACLE, Teletext Ltd | News: ITN, ITV News |
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ITA |
IBA |
ITC |
Ofcom |