BP
ITN had always had a reputation for punching above its weight. A nimble, fleet-of-foot, operator that provided a very respectable news operation for ITV and later Channels 4 and 5. But 24 hour news is not a cheap business and ITN just didn’t have the deep pockets to make it work. I think it spoke of a certain arrogance really, ITN thought it could provide a decent product simply because it was ITN. But producing a 25 minute bulletin that can compete with the BBC's resources is a very different task than producing a rolling news channel.
In the end, the ITN News Channel couldn’t compete. It had a small budget and it showed. If they'd spent more, they would have bankrupted the company. There just isn’t that much money in 24 hour news; as others have pointed out, Sky News was run as a loss leader for years, never making a profit. Sky were happy to indulge it, as it boosted their prestige. ITV never had the same attitude, so were never going to indulge in any similar largesse.
People still occasionally say, ‘I don't know why ITV don't launch a news channel; I'm sure it would work.’ It wouldn’t and ITV (or ITN for that matter) will never do it.
The ITN Nostalgia Thread
The ITN News Channel was a rather grand folly, I'm afraid. Perhaps if it had been launched in the early 1980s (I believe ITN piloted a 24-hour news channel at that time, but never went ahead with the idea) they might have got ahead of the game and made a success of it. But by the time it launched, I'm afraid that ship had already sailed.ITN had always had a reputation for punching above its weight. A nimble, fleet-of-foot, operator that provided a very respectable news operation for ITV and later Channels 4 and 5. But 24 hour news is not a cheap business and ITN just didn’t have the deep pockets to make it work. I think it spoke of a certain arrogance really, ITN thought it could provide a decent product simply because it was ITN. But producing a 25 minute bulletin that can compete with the BBC's resources is a very different task than producing a rolling news channel.
In the end, the ITN News Channel couldn’t compete. It had a small budget and it showed. If they'd spent more, they would have bankrupted the company. There just isn’t that much money in 24 hour news; as others have pointed out, Sky News was run as a loss leader for years, never making a profit. Sky were happy to indulge it, as it boosted their prestige. ITV never had the same attitude, so were never going to indulge in any similar largesse.
People still occasionally say, ‘I don't know why ITV don't launch a news channel; I'm sure it would work.’ It wouldn’t and ITV (or ITN for that matter) will never do it.