Northern Ireland news thread

From what I saw it looks like they've dropped the titles... though the astons are shockingly amateur.

The website now looks lovely, clean and simple - but it looks like they let the work experience student loose on the tv graphics

No more Big Blue on the website! Can we now say it's finally dead after 10 years?

Sadly, it seem consistency has also been chucked out on the new UTV Live graphics package - a shame after the 2009 template.

The 1800 bulletin now starts off with a panning shot into the unchanged studio (apart from new logos on the big plasmas and new animated loops on the old plasmas).

The headlines follow; three stories, first then a "coming up later":




Lots of mentions of Twitter names, including a pop-up caption for Clarky and Ali after the headlines:




Name straps have been updated; reporter bylines are back (with added Twitter ID) - but I don't like the "live" tag, and that "YouTube" citation on the fourth screen grab is shockingly small:






The worst mish-mash of the new look is with the caption styles... the stripes on the picture graphic are particularly eye-straining:







And there's little connection between the "still to come" and "coming up" segue graphics that top and tail the ad break (including the return of bl**dy Arial):




There's also new stings on the sport report (now sponsored by Subway), probably the best element of the new graphics:




The football sting was used going into a report on the NI squad for next Wednesday's game, a nice touch.

Matching graphics show up on the plasma behind Madame Bleach, varying from the new sport logo to picture-specific graphics:




And the new animated endcap, where the UTV Live logo rotates from left to right:



Sadly, for some reason, this evening's weather forecast isn't on UTV Player; but Frank's Weather Watchers and Weather Watching Camera solution *are* <facepalm> - the backdrop for the photos has changed to a stripy style, but the 2009 font still appears on the captions.

Oh wow. That's all so horrible.

Totally agree. Who actually gets paid to come up with crap like that?

UTV Live Tonight has a title sequence, but they shouldn't have bothered, it's just tacky. Reminds me too much of the Sky News look from a few years back.




The logo looks just as bad on the plasmas:




No Aston for Queen Gilly and the @UTVonAir Twitter account, TSK.

Meanwhile, the Stormont set is still keeping the old font alive and kicking:




Both the "Today at the Assembly" and "Business Brief" segment use a red stripy theme:




...while the newspaper review goes for a purple stripy background. So disjointed - sums up the new UTV Live graphics package.




Still no evidence of new on-screen weather graphics on the UTV Player versions - are they just the network maps with that blue stripy thing faded in to the left and the strap slapped over the top at Havoc House? The suspiciously flat-looking land mass in a dull shade of green over Norway and Sweden in the top right corner of the image in my post above suggest a bit of Photoshop use...

A nice surprise on the sports slot on tonight's UTV Live:



Pamela Ballantine signed off by saying "I'll see you tomorrow night", so it's not a one-off - seems the new sponsorship deal UTV Sport have with Subway means they've got a sports slot every weeknight instead of just Mondays and Fridays.

Does anyone know what's happened to the sports team at Havoc House? Not seen sight nor sound of Colm McAlinden for a while, and most of the recent reports have been from Blondie or John Flack.

EDIT: UTV are looking for a sports reporter... I fear there's no more Colm at UTV.*

* - I have no plans to change that anytime soon...

The BBC's Mark Devenport has just Tweeted that Mike Nesbitt is seeking nomination for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party, and that he will declare his intention later this week.

I may be wrong, but if Mr Nesbitt was successful in his bid, would his be the first instance of a former broadcast journalist going on to lead a UK-based political party?

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/bbcrsquos-noel-thompson-axed-from-tv-screens-16129739.html

BBC Northern Ireland veteran broadcaster Noel Thompson is being moved from TV, it has been confirmed.

That's a pity. Hearts and Minds is one of the quirkiest current affairs shows on TV, what with its title sequences down through the years, its unusual theme tune, and more recently Tim McGarry's "taxi driver" sequences.

Is Newsline now regularly presented single-headed? Watching tonight and Donna Traynor is on her own.

Very much a pity indeed - the small screen needs more stringent and capable broadcast journalists of Noel Thompson's calibre. It would be a shame if it meant the end of "Hearts and Minds" as a result; it's been an excellent compliment to the opt-outs on "The Politics Show"/"Sunday Politics".

I can picture BBC Newsline taking the single-presenter option when Noel shifts to radio - probably with Donna as the main anchor. Similar in arrangement to BBC Look North from Newcastle, I'd say, than Levy Live.

Time for a Question : Is Peter Cardwell, a new male reporter on UTV the same person of the same name who has been one of Bio-Dimbleby's minion production staff?

Karen Patterson made her return to BBC NI's screen last night as host of 'Hearts and Minds'.