BS
Now there's a whole new can of worms...
I once spoke to a NUJ Father of Chapel for ITV regional news in August 2004. He claimed that when the analogue licences expire for the ITV regions (2008-2012) , there will be no obligation for ITV to produce regional news.
Can anyone confirm this, have Ofcom made ruling on this point in past couple of years?
Given the nature of some of ITVplc's moves to new buildings in recent years, it does seem to point towards the eventual dropping of regional news programmes.
Think about it. Some sites are now studio-less "newsgathering centres", so are basically office buildings. Even those buildings that do have studios are little more than small office-type buildings too. And they tend to be on obscure "Business Parks" (i.e. glorified industrial estates), a long way from the city centre.
I get the impression that many of them weren't built especially for ITVplc, but were being built anyway, as part of regeneration of their respective Business Parks. And it just happens to be ITVplc, as opposed to any other company, who's moved in. ITVplc could just as easily move out again in a few years' time.
I wouldn't be surprised if, say, "Television House" in Gateshead (for example) was occupied by, say, an HSBC call-centre (or whatever), by 2015. And so on.
Central Extra also appears to have been rather clumsily renamed as Extra Tonight (oh dear), obviously also to allow for the Oxford-transmitter area.
Presumably, if they ever drop Hancock's Half Time, and revert back to the Soccer Night format/branding, it will also be sans- Central . Of those regions currently using the Soccer Night brand, is there a consistent policy re: inclusion of regional prefix in the on-screen name?
Roger Mellie posted:
Work of Artifice posted:
tvmercia posted:
that is, of course, if itv are still producing local news in a few years time.
Now there's a whole new can of worms...
I once spoke to a NUJ Father of Chapel for ITV regional news in August 2004. He claimed that when the analogue licences expire for the ITV regions (2008-2012) , there will be no obligation for ITV to produce regional news.
Can anyone confirm this, have Ofcom made ruling on this point in past couple of years?
Given the nature of some of ITVplc's moves to new buildings in recent years, it does seem to point towards the eventual dropping of regional news programmes.
Think about it. Some sites are now studio-less "newsgathering centres", so are basically office buildings. Even those buildings that do have studios are little more than small office-type buildings too. And they tend to be on obscure "Business Parks" (i.e. glorified industrial estates), a long way from the city centre.
I get the impression that many of them weren't built especially for ITVplc, but were being built anyway, as part of regeneration of their respective Business Parks. And it just happens to be ITVplc, as opposed to any other company, who's moved in. ITVplc could just as easily move out again in a few years' time.
I wouldn't be surprised if, say, "Television House" in Gateshead (for example) was occupied by, say, an HSBC call-centre (or whatever), by 2015. And so on.
Roger Mellie posted:
I notice that
Central Lobby
has changed to just
The Lobby
now, so I presume that people who receive the Oxford transmitter still get other Central regional programmes apart from
Hancock's Half-Time
!
Central Extra also appears to have been rather clumsily renamed as Extra Tonight (oh dear), obviously also to allow for the Oxford-transmitter area.
Presumably, if they ever drop Hancock's Half Time, and revert back to the Soccer Night format/branding, it will also be sans- Central . Of those regions currently using the Soccer Night brand, is there a consistent policy re: inclusion of regional prefix in the on-screen name?